JM Financial to buy out ASK Securities for Rs 139cr

Nimesh Kampani's JM Financial will fully buy out JM Financial ASK Securities for a total consideration of Rs 139.14 crore, the company said in a release today.

ASKING OUT

JM Financial Consultants, a wholly owned subsidiary of JM Financial, in its board meeting has approved to increase its equity stake from the current 60 per cent to 100 per cent in its institutional equity sales, trading and research business

In October 2007, JM Financial Consultants entered into a joint venture with ASK group by acquiring a 60 per cent stake in ASK Securities for Rs 58.14 crore

JM Financial Consultants, a wholly owned subsidiary of JM Financial, in its board meeting has approved to increase its equity stake from the current 60 per cent to 100 per cent in its institutional equity sales, trading and research business.

JM Financial Group Chairman Nimesh Kampani said, "This acquisition is part of our ongoing strategy to provide our clients with the entire bouquet of financial services and to continue to strengthen the JM Financial brand as a leading financial services organisation. It is an important milestone for our group and we believe this acquisition will help integrate our capital markets business further."

In October 2007, JM Financial Consultants entered into a joint venture with ASK group by acquiring a 60 per cent stake in ASK Securities for Rs 58.14 crore.

The name of the joint venture company will be changed after closing the transaction and subject to necessary regulatory approvals. Early last year, JM Financial sold its 49 per cent equity stake in its institutional equity business to Morgan Stanley for around Rs 1,767 crore.

"We saw that it was in their interest to own the business and ours was to come out of it, also this was not our core area of business. We want to continue to focus on wealth management and portfolio management. We have also applied for the AMC licence to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)," said ASK Group Chairman Asit Koticha.

ASK Group, which has three businesses "� institutional broking & equity research (ASK Securities), portfolio management services (ASK Investment Managers) and financial planning (ASK Wealth Advisors), separated from its foreign partner Raymond James by acquiring the 50 per cent held by the company in March 2007.