MUMBAI, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch <MER.N> has bought a
5 percent stake in Indian financial services firm Religare
Enterprises ahead of the company's initial public offering, the
Indian company said on Tuesday.
Financial details of the transaction were not revealed.
Religare said in July it planned to sell up to 11.36 million
shares through a book-built issue and may issue up to 3.78
million shares to investors before the IPO, which is being
managed by Citigroup <C.N> and Enam Financial Consultants.
Merrill's purchase is the latest in a series of moves by
foreign firms to buy into Indian brokerages.
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered <STAN.L> has bought a 49
percent stake in Indian broker UTI Securities Ltd for about $36
million, while Bank Muscat <BMAO.OM> bought 43 percent in
brokerage Mangal Keshav.
In March, the private equity arm of Citigroup bought a fifth
of India's Anand Rathi Securities, while BNP said it was
extending its alliance with India's Geojit Financial Services Ltd
<GEOJ.BO> to institutional brokerage.
((Reporting by Himangshu Watts, editing by Ranjit Gangadharan;
Reuters Messaging: [email protected] +91 22
6636 9030))
Keywords: MERRILL INDIA/STAKE