Religare Cap eyes investment banks, brokerages abroad

Religare Capital Markets, a wholly owned subsidiary of Religare Enterprises, is looking to acquire investment banks or brokerage houses in Indonesia and Malaysia, Religare Group’s COO Shachindra Nath said.

“In some of the markets, we will have joint ventures. Consultants and advisors are working for us. We would explore opportunities - buyouts either as majority equity ownership or a serious minority equity ownership,” Nath said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a press meet to announce launch of investment banking business in various emerging markets. “Some of the countries where we must need presence are Indonesia and Malaysia. We are making a serious point of looking at acquisition,” he said.  The company would look at medium-sized companies, which it can scale upwards.

“The way to enter these markets is not to set up greenfield operations as these are different territories, but to tie up with mid-tier brokerage or investment banks and start relationships. That relationship can start from minority partnership or whole buyouts,” Nath said. The acquisition would be done through London-based Religare Hichens Harrison PLC, which was acquired by Religare Enterprises in 2008. In India, the company would focus on organic route for expansion. The company that has a global headcount of 200 is planning to recruit more people globally as well as in India to pursue its expansion plans. It is in the process of appointing senior management in India.

The company on Thursday also announced the appointment of Martin Newton as the chief executive officer of global investment banking. Newton earlier headed US equities at Deutsche Bank and European equities at Credit Suisse. NW18