IDFC gains 6% as company's plan to sell brokerage arm fetches 5 bidders

Shares of IDFC rose as much as 6% to Rs 41.20 apiece on the BSE in intra-day trade after a media report suggested that the company has put its wholly-owned brokerage subsidiary IDFC Securities up for sale.

The bidding process, which started on Tuesday, has received interest from at least five parties, the Business Standard report suggests quoting industry players.

One of the prominent bidders is Axis Capital CEO Dharmesh Mehta in his personal capacity, with the support of investors.  Vikas Khemani, former Edelweiss Securities institutional equities and investment banking head, is another bidder, the report said. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

IDFC Bank, another subsidiary of IDFC, has already started the merger process with Warburg Pincus-owned Capital First, an NBFC, shares of which have rallied over 9% to Rs 39.65 on BSE in the intra-day trade so far. Capital First too soared 9% to Rs 541 on the BSE.

The Reserve Bank of India has approved the merger of IDFC Bank with Capital First, and also that of Capital First’s wholly-owned subsidiaries Capital First Home Finance and Capital First Securities. The new entity, called IDFC First Bank, is expected to start its operations from January 2019.