Reliance Capital Ltd. Monday said it has acquired a 26% stake in Indian Commodity Exchange Ltd. from Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd., further strengthening its presence in India's growing commodity exchange business.
The company, a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has already set up a national commodity spot exchange and said it has been inducted as an anchor investor in the Indian Commodity Exchange, or ICEX.
Reliance Exchangenext Ltd., a unit of Reliance Capital, has acquired the stake in ICEX, which is a screen-based online derivatives exchange for commodity trading.
The companies didn't disclose financial details of the deal.
“We see a huge potential in the commodity market space. With this, we plan to develop an integrated and transparent national electronic commodity marketplace,” Reliance Exchangenext Chief Executive Rajnikant Patel said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Indiabulls Financial said it will own about 14% in ICEX after the deal.
India's commodity exchanges traded goods worth 78.32 trillion rupees ($1.75 trillion) during the Apr. 1-Dec. 15 period, up 51.4% from a year earlier.
Reliance Money, another unit of Reliance Capital, picked up a 10% stake in Ahmedabad-based National Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. in 2008.
Reliance Capital shares were up 1.08% at 675.20 rupees at 0510 GMT, while Indiabulls Financial shares were up 5.13% at 182.40 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Source: WSJ