Bullish on the Indian market, Toronto-based Caldwell Investment Management is looking at increasing its stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange to 5 per cent, a media report has said.
Caldwell aims to grow its 4.25 per cent stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange "to the government-mandated five per cent limit as opportunities arise," a report in the 'Wall Street Journal' said.
"Exchanges are like a toll-road related to economic activity in these environments. The people in India are very entrepreneurial. Of the emerging countries, it's our favourite," the report quoted Thomas Caldwell, Chairman of Caldwell Financial, as saying.
The firm is looking to up its stake in BSE as the oldest bourse in India pursues its own initial public offering, which Caldwell said could come within a year.
A veteran investor in the sector, Caldwell has been buying up memberships in the New York Stock Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange ahead of their IPOs. He is the biggest investor in the newly public CBOE Holdings Inc.
The firm now looks to turn the same trick in India, while eyeing the prospects of smaller, commodity-focused derivatives markets in the US.
The report said Caldwell's firm last month boosted its investment in BSE as it seeks to reclaim ground lost to the National Stock Exchange, which controls an estimated three-quarters of share trading in India. Caldwell said the firm also continues to weigh a stake in the National Stock Exchange, after a planned investment fell through in mid-2009.