Kotak Mahindra To Acquire 51% Stake In Ahmedabad Commodity Exchange
Kotak Mahindra Bank is taking a regional route to make its fortune from commodity trading exchanges. Kotak will acquire a 51 per cent stake in the 50-year-old Ahmedabad Commodity Exchange (ACE), reports The Times of India.
According to a circular sent by the exchange to its shareholders, the exchange will issue to Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and its associates upto 1,02,000 equity shares at a price of Rs 321 per equity share and up to 1,050,000 share warrants that can be exercised at Rs 321 within 36 months. This will constitute about Rs 36.97 crore. Once Kotak comes in, ACE will be the first regional commodity exchange in India to be corporatised. It would become a online screen-based exchange, the report added.
The commodity exchanges are attracting investor attention. Multicommodity Exchange of India raised nearly $160 million (Rs 645 crore) from Citigroup, Merrill Lynch (five per cent each), and two other investors such as Passport Capital and GLG Partners, who acquired three and two per cent, respectively. Recently, Indiabulls announced that it would form a joint venture with MMTC to set up a commodity exchange. ACE trades in castor seeds, cotton seeds, cotton seed oil and cake at present. It has 212 members, and a daily turnover of Rs 25 crore, according to TOI.
