Temasek gets approval to buy 5% in NSE

Singapore's state-owned investment house Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd today said that it has received regulatory approvals to buy 5 per cent stake in the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).

Temasek is paying between $150 million and $180 million for the stake to be acquired from NYSE Euronext, according to financial experts.

"Temasek continues to focus on investments in India and believes in its long-term potential," said Manish Kejriwal, a senior managing director at Temasek, which manages some $172 billion worth of assets.

"We see our investment in NSE as a good proxy to India's economic growth and the development of its capital markets," Kajriwal said. This is Temasek's second investment in India within the past month. It had reached an agreement to invest $200 million in India's GMR Energy.

In 2007, NYSE Euronext, together with General Atlantic and Softbank's Asian infrastructure fund, had paid USD 490 million for a 20 per cent stake in NSE. NYSE Euronext share was $115 million. NSE is India's leading multi-asset class exchange.

Its current shareholders include Indian and global banks, insurance companies and investors.

As at March 2010, there were 1,470 companies listed on the exchange with a combined market capitalisation of Rs 6,009,173 crores (approximately $1.3 trillion).

In March 2010, the average daily trading turnover on the exchange was Rs 88,305 crores or approximately $19.6 billion, of which Rs 13,631 crores or approximately $3 billion is in cash equities and Rs 74,674 crores or approximately $16.6 billion in derivatives.