Thaindian News

Phuket (Thailand), Oct 2 (IANS) Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) is looking for a foreign partner like Japanese Nippon Life Insurance to facilitate its mission of going global and is also in talks with overseas distributors for selling its products, a top company official said.

RCAM is also looking at frontier markets (markets lower than emerging ones) like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for its products and is waiting for regulatory approvals from Jakarta for its Indonesian Fund.

“Talks have been held between us and Nippon Life. We have a mission to go global. For that a foreign partner will be helpful in distributing products overseas and also channelise investments to India. We are in the top ten in the Indian mutual fund industry and we do not have a foreign partner,” Sundeep Sikka, president and CEO of RCAM, told IANS here.

According to him, 96 percent of the company’s equity is held by Reliance Capital and the balance is held by Britain’s Eton Park.

RCAM will be the second subsidiary of Reliance Capital in which Nippon Life takes stake if the talks fructify.

Part of the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Group, Reliance Capital has agreed to sell 26 percent stake in Reliance Life Insurance Company Ltd for $680 million. On Sep 30 the Indian central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave its nod for the deal.

Declining to comment on the mode of valuation for RCAM Sikka said: “As per latest data our asset under management (AUM) is around Rs.102,000 crore. We are present in 270 locations and server around 7.2 million investors.”

Normally asset management companies are valued on the basis of their asset under management (AUM) or their distribution reach.

Speaking of global plans RCAM has filed necessary regulatory papers with the Indonesian authorities for launching an Indonesian Fund.

“We see Indonesian market similar to India in many aspects. Similarly we are looking at frontier markets (markets ranked below the emerging ones) like the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and others,” Sunil Singhania, head-equity said.

Sikka said talks are on with overseas distributors like banks and others to sell its products as the government has allowed Indian mutual funds to solicit investments from overseas individuals.

According to him there is good investment interest amongst foreign investors in Indian equities and lot of enquiries are coming in.

RCAM has subsidiaries in Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Dubai and Britain.

“They were set up during the last couple of years and their operations are yet to pick up,” Sikka said.

(V. Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)