French financial services group BNP Paribas will pick up 33.35% stake in stock broking company Geojit Financial Services for Rs 207 crore. The board of Geojit Financial Services today approved a proposal to issue upto 7.96 crore equity shares of Re 1 each to BNP Paribas at Rs 26 per share, aggregating to Rs 207 crore, the company said in a statement.This preferential allotment works out to 33.35% of the fully diluted equity post ESOP (Employees Stock Ownership Plan), it said. The offering to BNP Paribas will be in the form of equity and warrants convertible into equity. UTI bank advised Geojit Financial Services on this transaction. With two decades of experience in intermediary services, Geojit has a network of over 380 offices rendering trading and related services. Geojit manages Rs 4,500 crore assets for a customer base of 4,25,000. The company, with 2000 employees is into equities, derivatives, internet trading, portfolio management services, depository services, mutual funds, life insurance, commodity trading, margin funding and equity research. For the year ended March 2006, the company recorded Rs 101.79 crore revenue and net profit of Rs 22.71 crore. Geojit has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Muscut through its joint venture Barjeel Geojit. The company along with partners from Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE is setting up another brokerage company in Saudi Arabia utilizing Geojit's expertise, experience and technology in this sector.
