ICICI Bank 's assets in Russia were at risk.

ICICI Bank lost 4.47% to Rs 283.15 at 15:30 IST on concerns the bank's assets in Russia were at risk.
The stock hit an intraday low of Rs 280, also its 52-week low. It hit an intraday high of Rs 305.82 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 1065 on 3 March.
ICICI Bank stock had declined 9.66% in two consecutive sessions to Rs 296.40 on 3 March 2009 from Rs 328.10 on 27 February 2009. The stock has witnessed a sharp setback in the past few weeks amid a broad-based decline in banking
stocks caused by concerns of rising defaults of Indian banks in a weakening economy.
Despite fears of rising defaults, the leading domestic institutional investor Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is mopping up ICICI Bank shares. LIC recently hiked its stake in ICICI Bank to 9.38% by acquiring over 2.27 crore shares or 2.04% of the bank's equity stake through open market between 21 November 2008 and 17 February 2009. ICICI bank made this announcement on 24 February 2009. Before the purchase, LIC held 7.34% stake in the private sector bank.
ICICI bank, India's largest private sector bank by net profit, has an equity capital of Rs 1113.26 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
The current price of Rs 283.15 discounts its Q3 December 2008 annualised EPS of Rs 45.71, by a PE multiple of 6.19.
ICICI Bank's Russian assets may be vulnerable as firms there struggle to stay afloat. Reports suggest that the market is quite concerned over the Russian exposure and expecting sharp write-downs as companies in Russia are in trouble.
Last week CLSA in its research report said ICICI Bank's investments in Russia are unlikely to yield fruit in the near term. CLSA has not assigned any value to the bank's $584-million assets in Russia due to potential market-to-market losses.
CLSA added that although the bank has not reported any mark-to-market losses in Russia, the country's economic woes are expected to spoil the loan quality.
CLSA further mentioned that every additional $100 million written off on the bank's Russian assets would shed Rs 4 per share from ICICI's target price of Rs 535 a share.
ICICI's Russian arm, ICICI Bank Eurasia does not have a meaningful number of deposits and 84% of its total liabilities (including equity) in Russia are funded by group companies, the report added.
According to an earlier report dated September 2008, ICICI Bank Eurasia had assets worth $584 million (0.6% of the bank's total assets and 6% of its equity), including $434 million in the form of loans (including loans to banks and financials institutions) and $84 million in investments.
ICICI Bank Eurasia, was established in May 2005, after ICICI Bank acquired the entire equity of Investisionno-Kreditny Bank. The bank had opted for the acquisition route to save time, according to reports.
Last year, the management of ICICI Bank had to repeatedly assure investors and depositors after its exposure to collapsed Lehman Brothers triggered a slump in its share price.
ICICI Bank's net profit rose 3.4% to Rs 1272.15 crore on a 0.1% rise in sales to Rs 10350.62 crore in Q3 December 2008 over Q3 December 2007. The rise in Q3 December 2008 net profit was because earnings from fees and bond trading offset slowing credit growth and a rise in bad loans.