Edelweiss To Buy Religare’s Securities Business

Edelweiss Wealth Management is set to acquire Religare Enterprises Ltd.'s securities business in a bid to expand its client base, coverage and reach in the segment.

Edelweiss will also take on the pan-India distribution of close to 1,250 points of presence with over 1 million clients and employees of Religare, the company said in an exchange notification today. The acquisition will almost triple Edelweiss’ client base.

Nitin Jain, chief executive officer of Edelweiss' Global Wealth & Asset Management said the financial services firm hopes to become the country’s largest wealth management company. “The complementary nature of Religare’s business to our wealth management platform made for an attractive choice, as it expands our offering and supports our growth plans,” Jain told BloombergQuint in an interview.

The acquisition will help Edeweiss expand its “geographical reach and distribution footprint”, while acting as a boost to the segment.

While Religare had a number of suitors for its securities business, it chose the Mumbai-based financial services because “they were keen on retaining Religare’s workforce in its entirety,” said S Lakshminarayanan, executive chairman of Religare Enterprises.

The acquisition will allow the Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh-promoted Religare Enterprises to exit from the securities business. Religare is yet to clarify as to how it will use the funds from this sale.

Shares of Religare Enterprises rose 5 percent after the market opened to Rs 73.1 apiece.