Anil Ambani may soon exit from the mutual fund space by selling of his 42 per cent stake to joint venture partner Nippon Life to reduce debt.
The deal is expected to be about Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 crore and will reduce existing Rs 18,000 crore debt on Reliance Capital books. The deal may lead to open offer for retail investors.
Reliance Capital, which owns Reliance Mutual Fund, will off-load the stake to Nippon Life at much higher price to the current market due to the control premium being given to the joint venture partner.
Both partners currently hold 42.88 per cent each, and about 14 per cent is the public float. With over $700 billion in assets, Nippon Life, a Fortune 100 company, is the largest asset manager in Japan, and one of the largest in the world as well.
Total assets managed by Nippon Life globally is more than two times the size of the India MF industry.
Nippon Life has a strategy of expanding its global asset management foothold and have in recent times acquired stakes in DWS and TCW. It is truly a global company with operations across Japan, Australia, USA, China, Europe, Thailand, Indonesia.
