Kotak Mahindra Bank has agreed to buy a 15 per cent stake in Multi Commodity Exchange of India from Financial Technologies (India) Ltd for ₹459 crore.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval, said a statement from Financial Technologies.
Financial Technologies originally held 26 per cent in MCX and had to divest its stake as it was deemed not ‘fit and proper’ by the commodities market regulator, Forward Markets Commission (FMC), owing to the ₹5,600-crore NSEL fiasco.
FTIL said that it would continue with its divestment process to sell the remaining five per cent, subject to the receipt of binding bids and regulatory and other approvals.
The Kotak transaction culminates the majority of the divestment process initiated by FTIL on February 27, 2014.
Venkat Chary, Non-Executive Chairman, Financial Technologies, said: “We are happy that Kotak Mahindra Bank will become a significant minority shareholder in MCX and will contribute towards the next phase of growth of MCX as a responsible public shareholder… FTIL will continue to remain a technology partner to MCX.”
About ten days back, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had picked up about two per cent in MCX for over ₹66 crore.