Foreign firms may buy UTI AMC's 26% stake

Three overseas financial giants have evinced interests to pick up 26 per cent stake in UTI AMC, where four stakeholders including LIC and SBI have 25 per cent stake each.

“Three overseas players have evinced interests to pick up the 26 per cent stake in UTI AMC. However, no concrete decision has been taken yet,” a top UTI AMC source said. The source, however, did not reveal the identity of the interested parties, nor the value of their bids.

UTI AMC Chairman and Managing Director UK Sinha, however, maintained that the company was yet to identify a partner even though talks were on with the interested parties.

Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank hold equal stakes of 25 per cent each in UTI AMC, which has Rs 63,438 crore assets under its management as on May 31, 2009. The proposal is to dilute 6.5 per cent each by all the four stakeholders to offload 26 per cent. As LIC and SBI, which have their own mutual fund subsidiaries, reports suggest that they might ultimately exit from UTI AMC.