Bandhan Financial Holding-led consortium had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IDFC Asset Management Company (AMC) and IDFC AMC Trustee Company for Rs 4,500 crore, subject to receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, a media release from IDFC said on Wednesday. 

Bandhan Financial Holding is the holding company of private sector lender Bandhan Bank. The consortium led by it includes private equity firm ChrysCapital and Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC. 

Bandhan Financial Holding owns 60 per cent of the equity of the consortium, with ChrysCapital and GIC holding 20 per cent equity each.

The Bandhan-led consortium was selected through a “highly competitive divestment process which witnessed strong participation from strategic players and financial investors”, the media release has revealed. 

IDFC Chairman Anil Singhvi said: “This transaction is a significant milestone in our plan of unlocking value, and the consideration demonstrates strong position of IDFC AMC in the Indian mutual Fund space.”

Karni S Arha, the managing director of Bandhan Financial Holdings, said: “We are going into asset management as we want to have a complete bouquet of banking and financial services and not just banking.” 

Executives of the consortium said the MF might be renamed Bandhan MF after being finally and formally taken over. 

Bandhan Bank itself sells products from some 8 to 10 mutual funds. However, the group did not clarify how it would market the products of IDFC MF once it took over after regulatory permission from the SEBI and the RBI.