IL&FS seeks govt nod for investment in MCX

Financial services major IL&FS has sought the government approval for its investment in commodity bourse MCX, in which it had announced acquiring a 5 per cent stake about one-and-a-half year ago.     

IL&FS has sought clearance from the Finance Ministry's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for its "investment to be made" in MCX and the board is likely to consider the issue in its next meeting, scheduled for June 19.     

The FIPB clearance was sought last week for "investment to be made by the Trust (IL&FS Trust Company) in Multi Commodity Exchange of India," a ministry circular said.     

Earlier in December 2007, MCX had announced sale of a five per cent stake to IL&FS for about $55 million.     

At that time, MCX had offloaded 9.55 per cent stake to three investors — ICICI, IL&FS and Kotak — in a deal giving the exchange an enterprise value of $1.1 billion. While IL&F acquired 5 per cent stake, ICICI group picked up 3.5 per cent and Kotak 1 per cent in the exchange.     

MCX is the largest commodity exchange of the country, with turnover having touched Rs 4,23,778 crore in May, according to official data.