ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, has altered its plans and decided to spin-off its point-of-sale (PoS) terminals firm. The bank has delayed the hiving off its automated teller machines (ATMs) into a different entity. ICICI Banks PoS network, which accept credit and debit card payments, is the largest in the country with over two lakh terminals. Its looking for a valuation of over $100 million (Rs 500 crore), reports Economic Times.
Nearly a dozen players are in the race including Visa, FSS, Total Systems Services, KKR-owned First Data Corporation, Blackstone-CMS joint venture, Kubera Partners-backed Venture Infotek, among others. Besides valuation, the other conditions to the bidders are faster
network deployment and cheaper transaction cost.
ICICI Bank has previously built businesses and hived them off to successful companies. These include 3i Infotech, a mid sized IT company, which started as its registrar and transfer services arm. Another is BPO services firm Firstsource, previously called ICICI Onesource. The bank continues hold significant stake in both these companies.