New Delhi: Reliance Money, a leading broking and distribution house, today said it has obtained Category I Merchant Banking License from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and aims to clinch about 50 fund-raising deals by the end of the current fiscal. ''This new license allows Reliance Money to provide a wide range of investment banking services such as Issue Management, Underwriting, Private Equity Advisory, Syndication and Corporate Finance services in the country,'' Reliance Money Director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.
While the main focus of the industry has been on large caps, the firm, a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, sees a huge opportunity in serving the small and mid-sized segment, currently being under-serviced, he added.
The company plans to leverage its existing customer base of more than 2.5 million and distribution network of 10,000 outlets and 20,000 touchpoints across 5,165 cities and towns to effectively distribute the IPOs it handles.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Reliance Money gets nod to acquire 10 pc stake in NMCE
MUMBAI: Financial services firm Reliance Money has obtained approval from Ministry of Consumer Affairs to acquire a 10 per cent stake in the Nati onal Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (NMCE) Board.
"We are pleased with this development, as it marks our foray into the national commodity exchange space that is expected to cross an annual turnover of Rs 74 lakh-crore (volume) by next year," Reliance Money Director & CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said in a statement here today.
Reliance Money had proposed to acquire a total of up to 26 per cent stake in NMCE in two phases. NMCE had accordingly applied for necessary approvals from the regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC), which in turn, recommended the acquisition to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
The Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG is the first large business group to get into the commodity exchange space in India.
"We believe that this strategic tie-up between Reliance Money and NMCE will help us utilise the vast growth potential of commodity trading business in India to its optimum," he said.
"We are also set to leverage our wide distribution network of 10,000-plus outlets across 5,165 cities and towns to add value to NMCE," Bandyopadhyay, who has been inducted on the NMCE Board as an Additional Director, said.
"We are pleased with this development, as it marks our foray into the national commodity exchange space that is expected to cross an annual turnover of Rs 74 lakh-crore (volume) by next year," Reliance Money Director & CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said in a statement here today.
Reliance Money had proposed to acquire a total of up to 26 per cent stake in NMCE in two phases. NMCE had accordingly applied for necessary approvals from the regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC), which in turn, recommended the acquisition to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
The Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG is the first large business group to get into the commodity exchange space in India.
"We believe that this strategic tie-up between Reliance Money and NMCE will help us utilise the vast growth potential of commodity trading business in India to its optimum," he said.
"We are also set to leverage our wide distribution network of 10,000-plus outlets across 5,165 cities and towns to add value to NMCE," Bandyopadhyay, who has been inducted on the NMCE Board as an Additional Director, said.
Monday, September 29, 2008
As global giants go bust, Reliance Money enters investment banking
R-Cap arm to target smaller, medium-sized companies; eyes 50 fund-raising deals within first six months
Mumbai: Reliance Money, or R-Money, the equity brokerage arm of Reliance Capital Ltd, part of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) of companies, is entering the investment banking business at a time when several global investment banks have collapsed, merged with other companies, or turned into banks.
R-Money is eyeing at least 50 fund-raising deals within the first six months of operation. The company received required regulatory clearances to enter the business four days back and plans to focus on smaller and mid-size companies, a segment it says is hugely under-serviced.
“There are a lot of smaller and medium-size companies, emerging companies, which do not get adequate attention from the bigger merchant banks. We will focus on this segment,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and chief executive, R-Money. He added that his company aims to “spot companies with the IPO (initial public offering) potential” and work with them until they are ready to float an issue in the market.
Bandyopadhyay said R-Money would help companies raise money by tapping private equity firms if they were not ready to sell shares to the public. He admitted that companies were nervous about raising money from the public in the wake of the global credit crunch that has roiled markets, but said R-Money had the answer to that.
“If we are confident about the prospects of a company, we will underwrite 100% of its IPO. That’s the way to go about issues in such markets.”
R-Money’s entry into investment banking comes at a time when global markets are going through a credit crunch that started a little more than a year ago with problems in the mortgages business in the US and which has, in a climax that has continued over the past few weeks, resulted in the collapse of several US and European finance firms.
It also comes in a bad year for investment banking. According to a 14 September Mint report, an analysis of data by Nexgen Capitals Ltd, the investment banking arm of New Delhi-based outfit SMC Global Securities Ltd, shows merchant banking fees charged for public issue transactions have dipped 56.35% on an annualized basis: from Rs811 crore in 2007 to Rs236 crore year to date. The data is based on the Rs59,807 crore raised in 2007 compared with Rs37,743 crore, year to date, a 16% drop on an annualized basis.
An analyst who tracks the company for a Mumbai brokerage and who did not want to be identified said the move was a “logical step” for R-Money because it completes its “bouquet” of financial services. The analyst added that while a Tata group company or a Aditya Birla group company might not “come to them”, because they compete at some level with R-Money’s affiliates in R-Adag, there were “hundreds” who would.
R-Adag has interests in businesses such as power, finance, telecommunications and entertainment. “In cases of mergers and acquisitions, there may be some hesitation from competing companies, but for IPOs and other fund-raising cases, there will be no such issue,” said Bandyopadhyay. He added that the company would be involved with the fund-raising activities of its affiliates but wouldn’t be the sole investment banker for them.
Bandyopadhyay said he had already hired 25 people for the business and intends to hire 75 more.
He added that R-Money had been looking to work with companies in the infrastructure, telecommunications, media, power and energy sector and will likely manage an “IPO for a large construction conglomerate” and a global depository receipts issue for a mid-sized information technology company.
R-Money has a so-called category 1 investment banking licence from India’s capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi. There are around 100 companies that have this licence which allows an investment bank to help domestic companies through all forms of fund-raising in the Indian as well as international markets, manage buybacks of equity and underwrite issues.
Only 10-15 of these firms, however, are active, said Bandyopadhyay.
R-Money plans to leverage its customer base of more than three million and more than 20,000 distribution centres to effectively distribute the IPOs it handles.
“We are the biggest brokerage house in the country and that will be a strength when we are handling an IPO,” said Bandyopadhyay.
Analysts, however, continue to be concerned about the prospects for some of Reliance Capital’s businesses. In a 22 September note, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd’s analysts Manish Karwa, Ajinkya Dhavale and Alpesh Mehta wrote that they expect R-Money to make profit of Rs90 crore in the current fiscal and Rs130 crore in the next fiscal.
“While the execution capabilities of the management are commendable, growth uncertainty has increased in current environment across businesses. We have reduced our fair valuation for general insurance, broking and consumer finance businesses due to bleak outlook on either business growth and/or profit growth,” they added, downgrading Reliance Capital to “neutral” with a revised target price of Rs1,340 a share.
On Monday, shares of Reliance Capital closed down 6.99% at Rs1090.80 each on the Bombay Stock Exchange on a day the exchange’s benchmark Sensex index fell 3.9% to 12,595.75 points.
Mumbai: Reliance Money, or R-Money, the equity brokerage arm of Reliance Capital Ltd, part of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) of companies, is entering the investment banking business at a time when several global investment banks have collapsed, merged with other companies, or turned into banks.
R-Money is eyeing at least 50 fund-raising deals within the first six months of operation. The company received required regulatory clearances to enter the business four days back and plans to focus on smaller and mid-size companies, a segment it says is hugely under-serviced.
“There are a lot of smaller and medium-size companies, emerging companies, which do not get adequate attention from the bigger merchant banks. We will focus on this segment,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and chief executive, R-Money. He added that his company aims to “spot companies with the IPO (initial public offering) potential” and work with them until they are ready to float an issue in the market.
Bandyopadhyay said R-Money would help companies raise money by tapping private equity firms if they were not ready to sell shares to the public. He admitted that companies were nervous about raising money from the public in the wake of the global credit crunch that has roiled markets, but said R-Money had the answer to that.
“If we are confident about the prospects of a company, we will underwrite 100% of its IPO. That’s the way to go about issues in such markets.”
R-Money’s entry into investment banking comes at a time when global markets are going through a credit crunch that started a little more than a year ago with problems in the mortgages business in the US and which has, in a climax that has continued over the past few weeks, resulted in the collapse of several US and European finance firms.
It also comes in a bad year for investment banking. According to a 14 September Mint report, an analysis of data by Nexgen Capitals Ltd, the investment banking arm of New Delhi-based outfit SMC Global Securities Ltd, shows merchant banking fees charged for public issue transactions have dipped 56.35% on an annualized basis: from Rs811 crore in 2007 to Rs236 crore year to date. The data is based on the Rs59,807 crore raised in 2007 compared with Rs37,743 crore, year to date, a 16% drop on an annualized basis.
An analyst who tracks the company for a Mumbai brokerage and who did not want to be identified said the move was a “logical step” for R-Money because it completes its “bouquet” of financial services. The analyst added that while a Tata group company or a Aditya Birla group company might not “come to them”, because they compete at some level with R-Money’s affiliates in R-Adag, there were “hundreds” who would.
R-Adag has interests in businesses such as power, finance, telecommunications and entertainment. “In cases of mergers and acquisitions, there may be some hesitation from competing companies, but for IPOs and other fund-raising cases, there will be no such issue,” said Bandyopadhyay. He added that the company would be involved with the fund-raising activities of its affiliates but wouldn’t be the sole investment banker for them.
Bandyopadhyay said he had already hired 25 people for the business and intends to hire 75 more.
He added that R-Money had been looking to work with companies in the infrastructure, telecommunications, media, power and energy sector and will likely manage an “IPO for a large construction conglomerate” and a global depository receipts issue for a mid-sized information technology company.
R-Money has a so-called category 1 investment banking licence from India’s capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi. There are around 100 companies that have this licence which allows an investment bank to help domestic companies through all forms of fund-raising in the Indian as well as international markets, manage buybacks of equity and underwrite issues.
Only 10-15 of these firms, however, are active, said Bandyopadhyay.
R-Money plans to leverage its customer base of more than three million and more than 20,000 distribution centres to effectively distribute the IPOs it handles.
“We are the biggest brokerage house in the country and that will be a strength when we are handling an IPO,” said Bandyopadhyay.
Analysts, however, continue to be concerned about the prospects for some of Reliance Capital’s businesses. In a 22 September note, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd’s analysts Manish Karwa, Ajinkya Dhavale and Alpesh Mehta wrote that they expect R-Money to make profit of Rs90 crore in the current fiscal and Rs130 crore in the next fiscal.
“While the execution capabilities of the management are commendable, growth uncertainty has increased in current environment across businesses. We have reduced our fair valuation for general insurance, broking and consumer finance businesses due to bleak outlook on either business growth and/or profit growth,” they added, downgrading Reliance Capital to “neutral” with a revised target price of Rs1,340 a share.
On Monday, shares of Reliance Capital closed down 6.99% at Rs1090.80 each on the Bombay Stock Exchange on a day the exchange’s benchmark Sensex index fell 3.9% to 12,595.75 points.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Reliance ADAG Acquires Stake In Forex Company Wall Street Finance
EXCLUSIVE: RELIANCE MONEY EXPRESS WILL GET INTO FULL-FLEDGED FOREIGN CURRENCY BUSINESS THROUGH THIS ACQUISITION.
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is entering foreign exchange currency business. The group's forex arm Reliance Money Express has acquired a significant stake in Wall Street Finance Ltd, the forex business owned by the Patels of the Patel Roadways.
Reliance Money, a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, has acquired the stake by buying out the privately held Wall Street Contructions, a promoter entity which owns about 33.5 per cent stake in Wall Street Finance. The Patels own about 65 per cent stake in the publicly held Wall Street Finance. Neither Reliance Money nor Patels of Wall Street Finance could be reached for comment.
In fact, in May, there was an _interse_ transfer between the promoters on BSE wherein 38.37 lakh shares constituting 33.5% of the equity were sold by AS Patel (promoter) to Wall Street Construction Ltd.
The Bombay High Court is expected to approve the merger on September 26, after the completion of the merger, Wall Street Constructions will cease to exist and Reliance Money Express will become the single largest shareholder of Wall Street Finance with 33.5 per cent stake. The Patels will hold the remaining promoter equity which is about 32%.
Since May this year the share price of Wall Street Finance has more than doubled, from Rs 35 in May to reaching a high of Rs 81 this month. At the close of the markets
today, the shares were trading at Rs 76, up by 6.5% from the previous close. The Mumbai-based firm has a market capitalisation of only close to Rs 89 crore ($19.6 million). The company reported net profit of Rs 1.3 crore over a topline of Rs 30 crore in FY08.
Reliance Money Express was formed after Reliance acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, in November 2006. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital. The company has been in the money transfer services (MTS) and full-fledged money changing (FFMC) business in the country since 1993.
Wall Street Finance, set up in 1986, is an authorised dealer Forex-II (which means they can offer foreign remittance as well as money changing services). It is one of the principal agents of Western Union Money Transfer and operates over 3,500 locations for money transfer. The company is registered with RBI as a Non-Banking Finance Company and has over 38 branches spread across India. Wall Street Finance also caters to people going on Haj pilgrimage.
(The image of the court filing was published in Free Press Journal on September 10)
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is entering foreign exchange currency business. The group's forex arm Reliance Money Express has acquired a significant stake in Wall Street Finance Ltd, the forex business owned by the Patels of the Patel Roadways.
Reliance Money, a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, has acquired the stake by buying out the privately held Wall Street Contructions, a promoter entity which owns about 33.5 per cent stake in Wall Street Finance. The Patels own about 65 per cent stake in the publicly held Wall Street Finance. Neither Reliance Money nor Patels of Wall Street Finance could be reached for comment.
In fact, in May, there was an _interse_ transfer between the promoters on BSE wherein 38.37 lakh shares constituting 33.5% of the equity were sold by AS Patel (promoter) to Wall Street Construction Ltd.
The Bombay High Court is expected to approve the merger on September 26, after the completion of the merger, Wall Street Constructions will cease to exist and Reliance Money Express will become the single largest shareholder of Wall Street Finance with 33.5 per cent stake. The Patels will hold the remaining promoter equity which is about 32%.
Since May this year the share price of Wall Street Finance has more than doubled, from Rs 35 in May to reaching a high of Rs 81 this month. At the close of the markets
today, the shares were trading at Rs 76, up by 6.5% from the previous close. The Mumbai-based firm has a market capitalisation of only close to Rs 89 crore ($19.6 million). The company reported net profit of Rs 1.3 crore over a topline of Rs 30 crore in FY08.
Reliance Money Express was formed after Reliance acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, in November 2006. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital. The company has been in the money transfer services (MTS) and full-fledged money changing (FFMC) business in the country since 1993.
Wall Street Finance, set up in 1986, is an authorised dealer Forex-II (which means they can offer foreign remittance as well as money changing services). It is one of the principal agents of Western Union Money Transfer and operates over 3,500 locations for money transfer. The company is registered with RBI as a Non-Banking Finance Company and has over 38 branches spread across India. Wall Street Finance also caters to people going on Haj pilgrimage.
(The image of the court filing was published in Free Press Journal on September 10)
Friday, September 12, 2008
ADAG ramps up money transfer biz
MUMBAI: In an effort to scale up its presence in money transfer business, the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) has amalgamated Wall Street Construction, the parent company of Wall Street Finance, with Reliance Money Express, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital.
Wall Street Finance is a financial services company with foreign exchange and money remittance as its core activities. The company’s range of services include buying and selling foreign currencies and traveller’s cheques. Wall Street Construction holds a 33.55% stake in Wall Street Finance and after the amalgamation, Reliance Money Express will have a controlling stake in Wall Street Finance.
The deal is expected to strengthen the ADAG’s presence in money changing services and full-fledged money transfer business. “Reliance Money Express has been doing money transfer business for a long time as a principal agent of Western Union with all regulatory approvals. We are one of the leading players in this space and after the deal, ADAG will continue to have majority stake in the merged entity,” said Sudip Banyopadhyay, Director & CEO, Reliance Money.
The amalgamation petition was admitted in the Bombay High Court on 22 August and the matter is due for hearing on 26 September according to a public notice in a leading financial daily. When asked about the financial details of the deal, Banyopadhyay was tight-lipped. “Due to a confidentiality clause, the deal consideration cannot be disclosed at this stage. But it is insignificant in the context of the Reliance ADA Group,” he added. The promoters of Wall Street Finance could not be reached for comment.
In November 2006, Reliance Capital had acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, and rechristened it to Reliance Money Express. After unveiling the new subsidiary of Reliance Capital, the management had expressed the plans of forging alliances with various corporate houses and travel firms to take on the established players in this field.
Reliance Capital has a market capitalisation of over Rs 2,90,000 crore and the company sees a value in the business with India being the largest recipient of global remittance. “India is the largest recipient of global remittance of around $ 27 billion which is more than 10 percent of the total global remittance inflow of $ 240 billion. This is continuously rising due to labour migration and increasing wages,” Banyopadhyay had told the media after unveiling Reliance Money Express.
Wall Street Finance is a financial services company with foreign exchange and money remittance as its core activities. The company’s range of services include buying and selling foreign currencies and traveller’s cheques. Wall Street Construction holds a 33.55% stake in Wall Street Finance and after the amalgamation, Reliance Money Express will have a controlling stake in Wall Street Finance.
The deal is expected to strengthen the ADAG’s presence in money changing services and full-fledged money transfer business. “Reliance Money Express has been doing money transfer business for a long time as a principal agent of Western Union with all regulatory approvals. We are one of the leading players in this space and after the deal, ADAG will continue to have majority stake in the merged entity,” said Sudip Banyopadhyay, Director & CEO, Reliance Money.
The amalgamation petition was admitted in the Bombay High Court on 22 August and the matter is due for hearing on 26 September according to a public notice in a leading financial daily. When asked about the financial details of the deal, Banyopadhyay was tight-lipped. “Due to a confidentiality clause, the deal consideration cannot be disclosed at this stage. But it is insignificant in the context of the Reliance ADA Group,” he added. The promoters of Wall Street Finance could not be reached for comment.
In November 2006, Reliance Capital had acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, and rechristened it to Reliance Money Express. After unveiling the new subsidiary of Reliance Capital, the management had expressed the plans of forging alliances with various corporate houses and travel firms to take on the established players in this field.
Reliance Capital has a market capitalisation of over Rs 2,90,000 crore and the company sees a value in the business with India being the largest recipient of global remittance. “India is the largest recipient of global remittance of around $ 27 billion which is more than 10 percent of the total global remittance inflow of $ 240 billion. This is continuously rising due to labour migration and increasing wages,” Banyopadhyay had told the media after unveiling Reliance Money Express.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
OptionsXpress reaches deal with Indian firm
| Text size:
OPTIONSXPRESS REACHES DEAL WITH INDIAN FIRM
By James P. Miller |Tribune staff reporter7:45 AM CDT, September 10, 2008
OptionsXpress Holdings Inc., the Chicago-based online brokerage, said Wednesday that it reached agreement on an alliance with India's leading brokerage, under which the Indian firm -- Reliance Money Ltd. -- will refer its customers exclusively to optionsXpress for trading in U.S. financial products.
The Chicago broker, which specializes in equity options and futures trading, said Reliance is a unit of India's Ani Dhirubhai Ambani Group conglomerate. The accord also allows optionsXpress to refer customers to Reliance for trading in Indian markets.
As Indian investors seek to diversify their portfolios, the link with optionsXpress "will create a safe, secure and cost effective transaction platform for our customers to trade in the U.S. markets," said Reliance Money Chief Executive Officer Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
The accord, said an optionsXpress official, will allow the Chicago company "to participate and benefit in the growth potential of India."E-mail
OPTIONSXPRESS REACHES DEAL WITH INDIAN FIRM
By James P. Miller |Tribune staff reporter7:45 AM CDT, September 10, 2008
OptionsXpress Holdings Inc., the Chicago-based online brokerage, said Wednesday that it reached agreement on an alliance with India's leading brokerage, under which the Indian firm -- Reliance Money Ltd. -- will refer its customers exclusively to optionsXpress for trading in U.S. financial products.
The Chicago broker, which specializes in equity options and futures trading, said Reliance is a unit of India's Ani Dhirubhai Ambani Group conglomerate. The accord also allows optionsXpress to refer customers to Reliance for trading in Indian markets.
As Indian investors seek to diversify their portfolios, the link with optionsXpress "will create a safe, secure and cost effective transaction platform for our customers to trade in the U.S. markets," said Reliance Money Chief Executive Officer Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
The accord, said an optionsXpress official, will allow the Chicago company "to participate and benefit in the growth potential of India."E-mail
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Reliance Money partners with US brokerage firm
NEW DELHI: Broking and distribution house Reliance Money said on Monday that it has partnered with the US-based optionsXpress Holdings Inc, a web-based trading company, to gain access, custody and execution in US markets for its customers.
Reliance Money, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, through this agreement will enable investors to trade in all US delivery based equities, initial public offerings (IPOs), mutual funds, bonds and options. “Our tie-up with optionsXpress will now open a safe, secure and cost-effective transaction platform for our customers to trade in the US markets,” Reliance Money chief executive officer Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.
The US equity markets are mostly liquid and allow investors to spread country and sectoral risk more effectively.
Customers can also invest in sectors like bio-technology, semi-conductors and Internet companies that are under-represented here, Bandyopadhyay said. optionsXpress Holdings is a US-based company that provides securities brokerage products and services for investor education, strategy evaluation and trade execution.
Reliance Money, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, through this agreement will enable investors to trade in all US delivery based equities, initial public offerings (IPOs), mutual funds, bonds and options. “Our tie-up with optionsXpress will now open a safe, secure and cost-effective transaction platform for our customers to trade in the US markets,” Reliance Money chief executive officer Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.
The US equity markets are mostly liquid and allow investors to spread country and sectoral risk more effectively.
Customers can also invest in sectors like bio-technology, semi-conductors and Internet companies that are under-represented here, Bandyopadhyay said. optionsXpress Holdings is a US-based company that provides securities brokerage products and services for investor education, strategy evaluation and trade execution.
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