Dalal Street freed from brokers’ grip
Owned and run as a trust by stockbrokers for over a century, the Bombay Stock Exchange has donned the corporate mantle now. On Friday, the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd unveiled its new corporate identity with a fresh logo and the catch line “The Edge Is Efficiency”.
So what has changed at the BSE? The new corporate entity has 750 stockbrokers as shareholders with a paid-up capital of Rs 75 lakh and free reserves worth Rs 400 crore.
The immediate plan — a diktat of SEBI — is to divest 51 per cent equity in the new company. “We are evaluating all divestment options,” Rajnikant Patel, executive director and CEO, BSE Ltd, told HT. “It could be a IPO or an international listing or a selloff to a strategic partner who can bring some expertise and enhance our business further.”
As a first step, the BSE Ltd has decided to appoint an advisor and a merchant banker to prepare a blueprint for future business plans and initiate the IPO process. The zero-debt BSE Ltd plans to enter into all financial services businesses, said Patel.
The new corporate entity is likely to bring a bonanza for 750-odd stockbrokers of the oldest Asian bourse. As part of the deal, each stockbroker has received 10,000 equity shares of Re 1 each in the new company.
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Source:
Hindustan Times
