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sudip-bandyopadhya
First Indian firm to acquire a stake in an international exchange
- Becomes the second largest shareholder in HKMEx
- Reliance Money to get a seat on the HKMEx board
Mumbai, October 14, 2008: Reliance Money, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has acquired a 15 per cent stake in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx). With this holding, Reliance Money becomes the second-largest shareholder in the commodity exchange and will have a board membership. Reliance Money is the first Indian firm to acquire a stake in an international exchange.
“Even as Asia has emerged as a key market for global commodities, the region does not have a strong commodity exchange. We believe that our deal with HKMEx will help us capitalise on the growing demand for commodities in this region,” said Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Director and CEO, Reliance Money.
Reliance Money has recently received approval from the FMC and Ministry of Consumer Affairs for acquiring 10 per cent stake in domestic National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India. It plans to up this stake to 26 per cent.
“We plan to build synergies between both the exchanges thereby leveraging on the growth potential of commodity trading in India, China and the rest of Asia,” added Mr. Bandyopadhyay.
HKMEx proposes to start trading in the first quarter of 2009 and will kick-start its operations by offering dollar-denominated oil contracts. It would also diversify into other commodities going forward.
About Reliance Money www.reliancemoney.com), a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is a comprehensive financial services and solution provider, providing customers with access to Equity, Equity and Commodity Derivatives, Portfolio Management Services, Wealth Management Services, Mutual Funds, IPOs, Life and General Insurance and Gold Coins. Customers can also avail Loans, Credit Card, Money Transfer and Money Changing services.
The largest broking house in India with 2.7 million customers and a wide network of over 10,000 outlets and 20,000 touch points in 5,000+ locations. Reliance Money endeavors to change the way investors transact in financial markets and avails financial services. The average daily volume on the stock exchanges is Rs. 4,000 crores, representing approximately 4% of the total stock exchange volume.
Reliance Capital is one of India’s leading and fastest growing private sector financial services companies, and ranks among the top 3 private sector financial services and banking groups, in terms of net worth.
About Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange
www.hkmerc.com
Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (“HKMEx”) has been founded on June 25, 2008 with the objective of bridging the international commodities markets with China through an efficient and transparent pricing platform for end-users and the global trading community. The company was founded on the conviction that state of the art trading systems would be built from Internet-enabled, secure platform. With the electronic trading platform on commodities, HKMEx allows customers to trade tailor-made contracts, hedge pricing risks in china and across the region, lower transactions costs and increase participation by Chinese commodities traders. HKMEx operates from its Hong Kong headquarters and trading is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2009.
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