The New York Stock Exchange, US investment bank Goldman Sachs and global investors General Atlantic and Softbank Asian Infrastructure Fund have acquired a combined 20% stake in National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India.
Each investor has acquired a five per cent equity stake in Mumbai-based NSE, which was set up in the mid 1990s as a demutualised electronic exchange by ICICI Bank, Industrial Finance Corporation of India, IL&FS Trust Company, Punjab National Bank and General Insurance Corporation of India.
Nyse has released a statement saying it paid US$115 million in cash for its NSE stake. The US exchange says the NSE is India's largest multi-asset exchange and a leader in equities, derivatives and fixed income markets and the purchase "complements our global growth strategy".
Ravi Narain, managing director of NSE, told reporters that the other five per cent stakes were acquired for much the same "ballpark figure" as the Nyse holding, although details were not disclosed. This would put the entire deal at approximately US$460 million.
The Indian government issued new guidelines on overseas investment in Indian exchanges in 2006 and has capped the stake of individual investors at five per cent and limited direct foreign ownership to 26%.