Shinsei Bank, the Japanese lender backed by Christopher Flowers, said a planned merger with Aozora Bank would not disrupt operations at its Indian asset management firm as it prepares to start a third fund.
Shinsei, which announced plans to merge with Aozora to form Japan’s sixth-largest bank last month, started the Indian asset management company in February. The Tokyo-based company owns 75 per cent of Shinsei Asset Management.
Masamoto Yashiro, chief executive officer of Shinsei Bank, and Chief Financial Officer Rahul Gupta visited Mumbai last week to assure investors including Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who holds a 15 per cent stake in the unit, that their Indian operations will continue as planned.
“We are committed to the asset management company,” Gupta said in a phone interview today. “Whatever action we take, the firm is ensured continuity.”
Shinsei Asset would launch its third Indian fund, which would invest in bonds, in less than two months as talks with Aozora continued, Gupta said. The Indian asset management company will break even in three years, he said.
“We want to start small, build a track record and then grow it,” Mumbai-based Sanjay Sachdev, country manager for Shinsei, said by telephone today. “They are open-ended funds, so we’re going to keep collecting money.”
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India’s 38 mutual fund managers had a combined Rs 6.9 lakh crore ($144 billion) in assets as of July 31, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India.
Shinsei managed Rs 203 crore, it said. The firm launched a money market fund in July that raised $75 million, Sachdev said.