JM Fin, RMB sign deal to provide M&A advisory services

India's JM Financial Consultants and South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) today inked a MoU to jointly provide M&A advisory services to corporates from the two countries.

JM Financial Group's Chairman Nimesh Kampani and Sizwe Nxasana, the CEO of FirstRand Group, the parent company of Rand Merchant Bank, signed the MoU in Mumbai where South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is on a state visit, leading a delegation of top South African businessmen, a press release issued here stated.

Trade and investment between Africa and India is significantly on the rise, with India set to become one of Africa's major trading and investment partners over the next decade.

The bilateral trade between India and Africa is likely to grow by an estimated 22 per cent in the next two-years from the current levels of close to $45 billion to $55 billion in 2012.

The MoU signed between RMB and JM Financial will enable corporates at both destinations to explore and leverage opportunities in the economies of India and Africa, the release said.

According to the MoU, JM Financial and RMB will jointly provide M&A advisory services to Indian clients seeking to make investments into entities or transactions in Africa and South African and African clients seeking to make investments in entities or transactions in India.

FirstRand's CEO Sizwe Nxasana said, "A partnership between RMB and JM Financial will unlock significant value for both parties by leveraging their individual expertise and sharing distinctive local market knowledge for the benefit of clients and shareholders."

"In addition, RMB's parent, FirstRand, is one of the largest financial services groups in Africa, and will provide JM Financial with opportunities to enhance its service to its domestic customers seeking to do business in Africa. FirstRand also brings significant balance-sheet capability to support future investment flows in the Indo-African corridor," he said.

Kampani said, "In recent years, several Indian companies have shown an interest in Africa. Both, Africa and India are vibrant emerging economies, each with a rich resource base, a vast talent pool and low-cost business models, offering immense business opportunities to investors, and thereby being a favourite investment destination world over."

"JM Financial's strong advisory and execution capabilities alongwith RMB's market knowledge and expertise will enable both parties to provide its clients with valuable advice and service," he added.