Coffee Day Holdings gears up to expand financial services

Is also scouting for an investment banking firm to add to its portfolio of services

Coffee Day Holdings, the Bangalore-based and highly diversified group, is gearing up for aggressive expansion of its financial services business,  housed under Way2Wealth Ltd.

Way2Wealth offers a bouquet of services spanning equity, derivatives, currency futures, commodities trading, public offers, mutual funds, portfolio management and depository services, among others. It has a little over 600 points of presence and is targeting to touch the 1,000-mark during the next year.

They’re also believed to be scouting for an investment banking firm to add to their portfolio of services. After which, it might go for a private equity infusion and capitalise further its non-deposit taking non-bank finance company, an acquired business.

Late in 2011, it had raised $30 million through debt, part-funded by global private equity powerhouse Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Way2Wealth has, in addition to acquiring the NBFC business, over the past few years acquired a retail brokerage firm and an insurance brokerage. A senior company official said the mainstay equity, commodities, derivatives and currencies trading segment were performing well but the insurance brokerage arm was also growing  fast.

The Way2Wealth legacy dates back to Sivan Securities, a financial intermediary and incubator for information technology start-up firms.

It spun off its securities broking and investment banking arm as Way2Wealth in 2000.  

In addition to wealth management, the Coffee Day Group has an expanding presence in logistics, furniture, special economic zones and hospitality, beside the flagship coffee retailing and export business.

The group has been growing aggressively, backed by global PE giants Standard Chartered, KKR, New Silk Route, Darby Private Equity, IFC and Sequoia, among others.