Temasek gets Sebi nod for MF

Close on the heels of speculation that the Singapore government's investment arm Temasek may buy out the asset management business of Standard Chartered Bank in India, the Singaporean firm's joint venture with an Indian company has won approval from the regulator for setting up an AMC business here.

Lotus India Asset Management Co Pvt Ltd (Lotus India AMC), promoted jointly by Temasek's wholly owned subsidiary Fullerton Fund Management (Singapore-based) and Sabre Capital Worldwide, promoted by former Citibank executive vice-president Rana Talwar, on Monday got the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) licence to mutual fund operations in India.

"We have already invested on a scale that will allow us to rapidly build this business towards our objective of Rs 25,000 crore of asset under management (AUM) within few years of operations. Over the next few quarters, we are targeting presence in the top 100 cities and a distribution footprint that ranks among the top five AMCs in India," said Ajay Bagga, CEO of the JV.

Fullerton Fund Management has specialised in Asian traditional and alternative products, covering both relative and absolute returns strategies over cash and money market, global equities, global fixed income and global currencies.

Sabre Capital is led by a group of bankers.

It recently arranged a $70 million investment into the Centurion Bank for a 50 per cent stake as well as raised over $255 million as capital for the bank.