Kampani Says He Didn’t Want To Split, Morgan Stanley Wanted Out
If Nimesh Kampani, chairman of JM Financial, is to be believed, then he didn’t want to split with Morgan Stanley. Kampani is believed to have said that the decision to separate was Morgan Stanley’s. Apparently the US investment bank had been talking of a split for two or three years.
“Working in a joint venture is a great advantage as it gives you the best of both worlds, but what do you do if one partner doesn’t want to stay on?” Kampani asked during an interaction with reporters in Mumbai.
Look at a statement from Hans Schuettler, CEO, Morgan Stanley Asia, said: “It is now the right time for Morgan Stanley to develop a wholly owned full-service India platform. Building on the highly successful institutional equities business and our existing operations in India, we will create an integrated platform that reflects all the businesses the firm conducts globally.”
It seems Indian market is too attractive now to share the spoils with partners. But the fact is Kampani is a formidable partner any foreign firm can have in India at least in the investment banking space. Kampani is well connected with Indian industry captains. Some big deals done by JM Morgan Stanley include $10-billion merger of Reliance Industries with Reliance Petroleum, Oracle’s $909 million acquisition of i-Flex, BPL Mobile’s $1.25 billion sell-off to Essar Group, and so on. Kampani was also believed to have been one of the key intermediaries in resolving the dispute between the Ambani brothers.
