Mirae Asset acquires BNP Paribas’ Sharekhan for Rs 3,000 crore: Report

French financial services company BNP Paribas has sold its retail broking unit Sharekhan for Rs 3,000 crore to South Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group. The deal has reportedly been signed already and soon will be filed at the Korean stock exchange. 

As reported in The Economic Times, BNP Paribas wants to focus on the banking business mainly and had, earlier too, exited the mutual fund and wealth management businesses. 

BNP Paribas had acquired Sharekhan from a group of private equity firms including Citi Venture Capital International (CVCi), Baring Asia Private Equity and Samara Capital, for Rs 2,100 crore.

Sharekhan, founded by Shripal Morakhia in 2000, was one of the earliest brokers to introduce online trading in India. It currently has a client base of 29 lakh, and over 4000 business partners. 

The broking unit, that has changed a few hands in the past couple of years, has 4,800 employees, present over 4,000 outlets, and customer assets of Rs 83,000 crore, as of November 10. 

The BNP Paribas Group was also formed in 2000, after a merger of Paribas Investment Bank and France’s leading bank, BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris). BNP has an AUM of $565 billion globally and has 22 branches in India with Rs 1.5 lakh crore AUM. 

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