Spanish BBVA to enter India through PSB JV

Spanish financial services group BBVA SA has identified India as one of its key markets in Asia and plans to enter the country through a joint venture with a public sector bank (PSB).

The roadmap over next three-four years involves a mutual funds venture followed by projects in consumer finance, credit cards and later, life insurance.

BBVA’s Asia general manager Manuel Galatas said that BBVA plans to enter MF market through a JV with a PSU Bank. They are talking with two PSB. It is believed that the two PSBs are Bank of India & Corporation Bank.

Some time ago BBVA was in talks with Union Bank of India for a mutual funds joint venture, but it is now understood that the Union Bank has zeroed in on Belgium’s KBC Group NV as its partner for its mutual funds business.

BBVA with a market capitalization of €53 billion (Rs3.2 trillion) and more than 8,000 branches worldwide, is also open to acquisitions of mid-sized banks here, when the regulatory environment permits. The Spanish company entered India in April last year with a liaison office in Mumbai.

For full article read Mint

Mutual Funds' ADR/GDR exposure limit to increase by $50 mn:SEBI

SEBI, to much cheer from the MF industry, has decided to increase the investment limit of single domestic Mutual fund's from $150 mn to $200 mn.It also said that there would be a sub-ceiling for individual MF's which should not be greater than 10% of their total AUM or $ 200 mn whichever is higher.

Source: The Economic Times

Fund houses on a NFO rolling spree

The mutual fund industry is set for a roller coaster ride.Investment banks like JP Morgan and AIG are coming out with NFO's for the first time.Along with them NFO's from veterans like SBI and HDFC is expected to hit the markets soon.

Capital protection offers are also rolled out by Franklin Templeton and DWS.DSP Merill Lynch's closed ended scheme is another fund which is closing for subscription at the end of the month.

Fixed maturity plans are in the pipeline by the likes of ICICI Prudential,Standard Chartered and Lotus.The offer documents of these funds have been filed with the SEBI.On the equity side UTI India Lifestyle, UTI Flexi Cap and Lotus Nifty Index Plus Fund are ready to make their offers public.

Read the Hindu article:
Fund houses line up series of new offers

Big names gear up to pick up stake in Reliance MF

Big private equity and asset management firms have lined up for a small stake in Reliance MF. Blackstone, the big US PE firm which has operations in India will look to build a relationship base with what is the biggest Asset management company in India and has Assets Under Management(AUM) which are scaling new heights, recently surpassing the 50,000 crore mark.
Reliance MF which is eyeing a valuation of 1.2 billion dollars (10% of the total AUM) is also on the radar of Schroder’s, the British fund with assets of about $260 bn after speculation that it wants to enter the Asset Management business in India and one of the units of US based Capital.
If this deal does go through it will help the foreign investors to cement a relationship with one of the biggest money mangers in the world .The industry’s AUM has witnessed a growth of almost 85% over two years starting 2005 April, and with the future looking bright these foreign firms could not have possibly found a better opportunity to build on a base starting with the leader in the Indian Markets .On the other hand it’s a win-win situation as far as Reliance Capital is concerned as it will give the company valuable know-how and technical proficiency in the Financial Services industry with the biggest names on its board. Valuations are also going crazy with the firm hitting a new high on the BSE.
Even if the offer is not accepted it has showcased the potential for the growth of the industry, with the American and the European markets approaching perfection and that these investors are finding it hard to outperform the markets there, they are looking at offshoring their business to low cost and high return destinations on the long term like India.
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