South Korea's Mirae Asset to buy BNP Paribas' Indian brokerage unit for $370 mn

Bengaluru: South Korea's Mirae Asset Securities on Tuesday said it would acquire French bank BNP Paribas' Indian retail brokerage unit, Sharekhan, in a 487 billion won ($370.11 million) deal.

Mirae Asset, an investment banking and stock brokerage firm, is acquiring a 72.76 per cent stake in Sharekhan for around 288 billion won from BNP Paribas, exchange filings showed.

Separately, it would also be acquiring a 99.9 per cent stake in India's Human Value Developers for around 199 billion won, according to an exchange filing. Human Value Developers owns a 27.24 per cent stake in Sharekhan.

The deal comes at a time when the Indian stock market is seeing very high retail participation, with equities trading at all-time highs.

BNP Paribas said in a statement it intended to sell its entire stake in Sharekhan Group to Mirae, without giving further details.

The deal "seeks to pursue Indian business growth by acquiring a local brokerage in light of the structural long-term growth potential of the Indian securities industry", the filings said.

BNP in 2015 agreed to buy Sharekhan for an undisclosed sum.