Promoters Shripal and Shreyas Morakhia are said to be mulling a gradual dilution of their stakes and give greater attention to their film business.
MUMBAI: The buzz around SSKI, one of India’s largest and oldest brokerage houses with a track record of over 80 years, is getting louder. Promoters Shripal and Shreyas Morakhia are said to be mulling a gradual dilution of their stakes so that they can give greater attention to their film distribution and production business through iDream Production.
Sources told DNA that private equity firm General Atlantic Partners and ex-Wipro vice-chairman Vivek Paul (now a partner with Texas Pacific) have invested Rs 100 crore each in Sharekhan, the retail broking subsidiary of SSKI. HSBC Private Equity Management, the Carlyle Group and Intel Capital had earlier taken private stakes in Sharekhan in 2000.
The move to bring more private equity into Sharekhan is seen as another step towards ultimate disposal of the whole broking business, which includes SSKI’s institutional broking and investment banking services apart from Sharekhan’s retail portfolio. SSKI itself is said to be mulling a promoter stake dilution by offering employees a stock option plan. SSKI is one of India’s top five brokerages in terms of daily traded volumes.
Vivek Paul, in an email sent through his Delhi-based public relations agency, declined to comment on the issue. A Sharekhan source confirmed that talks for a stake sale were on with a few players, but no money had come in as yet. Turn to Page 22
But Jaideep Arora, a director of Sharekhan, said the promoters were not about to opt out. “The promoters are fully committed to both the financial services and films businesses,” he said.
Shripal Morakhia is already into the distribution and production of movies through iDream, which is wholly owned by SSKI.
iDreams started off with the distribution of Monsoon Wedding in November, 2001. Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham was another blockbuster distributed by the company.
The company made its production debut with 16th December. Recent films include Samay and Naina.
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