FTIL may exit IEX through IPO

Reiterates exit from exchange business, MCX stake sale is on

Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) on Tuesday said its plan to exit the exchange business was on track. In a filing to BSE, it said the sale of its stake in Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was on course, adding next on its stake-sale list was Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). FTIL has already reduced its stake in MCX Stock Exchange from five per cent by not subscribing to the exchange’s rights issue.

In response to a BSE query on reports FTIL was planning to exit Indian Energy Exchange through an initial public offering (IPO), FTIL has said while the “stake sale process in MCX is currently on…for other exchanges, FTIL is evaluating various options to exit, including IPO.”

In the past, FTIL had set up a chain of exchanges, including MCX, IEX, MCX-Stock Exchange and a few foreign exchanges. After a crisis broke out at National Spot Exchange Ltd, a spot exchange set up by it, FTIL chairman and group CEO Jignesh Shah had said the company would exit exchanges and, subsequently, invited bids for its 26 per cent stake in MCX. However, it is yet to receive a non-binding offer. Market reports suggest the negotiations for the stake sale are in their final rounds.

FTIL holds 26 per cent stake in IEX, the market leader for trading in power. As FTIL had cut its stake in MCX through an IPO, it is expected it might do the same in the case of IEX, too.