Rohatyn Group sells stake in India's Sharekhan to BNP Paribas

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Rohatyn Group has sold its stake in Sharekhan, India's leading online retail brokerage, to French bank BNP Paribas , according to a source familiar with the deal, marking the latest in a series of sales of investments from a portfolio the private equity firm bought two years ago.

No terms could be obtained for the deal but Rohatyn, which invests about $5 billion exclusively in emerging market assets, has realized roughly $2 billion on sales of investments from its portfolio over the last 12 months, the source said.

BNP Paribas was not immediately available to comment. A spokesman for Rohatyn declined comment.

 

The Rohatyn Group, run by Nick Rohatyn, the son of legendary financier Felix Rohatyn, bought Citigroup's emerging markets fund in December 2013 when the bank was forced to shed assets to comply with new financial rules.

Analysts at the time considered the Citi portfolio largely illiquid, but Rohatyn has made seven exits - or sales - since then.

Most recently, the firm sold Egypt's Amoun Pharmaceutical Co to dealmaking powerhouse Valeant Pharmaceuticals and before that it sold a stake in Bulgarian drug company Huvepharma to Advance Properties.

The fund's outstanding investments have increased 15 percent from the time the portfolio was acquired to the spring of 2015. That compares with a loss of 2.8 percent for the MSCI EM Index.

The exits have had an internal rate of return of 17 percent over the fund's eight-year life, according to the person familiar with the deal.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Andrew Hay and Bill Rigby)