StanChart completes 100% acquisition of UTI Securities

British banking giant Standard Chartered Bank has completed the acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in UTI Securities from Stock Trading Corporation (STCI) for around Rs 300 crore and announced it will be investing an additional Rs 200 crore for growing the business.

Stanchart had bought a 49 per cent stake in the company offering retail and institutional broking services in August 2007, which was raised to 74.9 per cent in December 2008 and 100 per cent last week, the lender's Regional Chief Executive India and South Asia Neeraj Swaroop said.

The company's Managing Director Ratnesh Kumar said the retail side of the business holds good prospects in India as it is relatively untapped by existing players while on the institutional side, the company will leverage on Stanchart's brand and already has a "vast majority" of institutional clients empanelled.

Swaroop said getting into equities is a natural extension after banking and added that the bank would also like to get into the equity capital markets (ECM) vertical eyeing the investment banking fees.

The bank, however, has no plans of getting into the mutual funds business as it is not a part of the overall group strategy, he said.

Kumar said the company will be adopting a content-led strategy, providing research to clients and has already put in place a dedicated team of experienced professionals.

Post complete acquisition, Stanchart is also looking at rebranding the company which currently goes by the name Standard Chartered-STCI Capital Markets, Swaroop said.