Reliance ADAG Eyes 50% In UK Currency Co

The deal will be routed through Wall Street Finance, a listed Indian firm that Reliance ADAG acquired recently.

There are still some buyers in the financial services sector. Anil Ambani led Reliance ADAG which has been striking international deals in the brokerage and commodities exchange business, is now looking at a bigger play on cross border money transfer activity. It is now close to acquiring 50% stake in a UK-based currency exchange and money transfer firm for an undisclosed amount. This will enable the Indian company to sell its financial products including mutual funds to the 1.4 million NRI population in the UK, says this report.

There are a number of large money transfer and currency exchange firms in the UK with Travelex (which was acquired by a consortium led by Apax Partners three years back). The target company is said to have more than 250 outlets. Some of the prospective names in the field who could be under the radar of Reliance ADAG include TTT Moneycorp and No1 Currency.

TTT Moneycorp is a retail, wholesale and commercial foreign exchange services firm in the UK owned by the Shlewet family trust and backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland while No1 Currency was formed in 1996 and is owned by its two founding partners David Hale and Mark McElney.