Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd, part of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, is in early talks to acquire the Rs.7,501-crore portfolio of JP Morgan Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd as it seeks to close the gap with its two bigger rivals, said four people familiar with the discussions.
A transaction, if concluded, would make it the second purchase of a foreign fund manager’s portfolio by Reliance, which in October acquired Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s mutual fund business in India.
With Rs.1.57 trillion of assets under management as of 31 December, Reliance Capital Asset Management is India’s third largest asset management company (AMC), trailing only HDFC Mutual Fund (Rs.1.78 trillion) and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (Rs.1.72 trillion).
The talks with JP Morgan are in early stages, but Reliance has made the highest bid so far, said two of the four people cited in the first instance.
“We are open to an acquisition if there is a significant synergy in such a deal,” said a top Reliance official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. He isn’t among the people cited above.
A Reliance Capital spokesperson said: “Industry will be seeing lot more consolidation and RMF is open to further acquisitions similar to Goldman AMC. However, we would not like to comment specifically with regards JPM or any company.”
“JP Morgan does not comment on media speculations,” said a JP Morgan spokesperson.
