NYSE sells 5% stake in NSE to Temasek

MUMBAI: US-based stock exchange NYSE today announced selling its five per cent stake in India’s top bourse NSE to Singapore government’s investment arm Temasek. The deal marks exit of New York Stock Exchange from National Stock Exchange and Temasek’s entry as shareholder. The transaction has received the necessary regulatory approvals, NSE and Temasek said in a joint statement, but did not elaborate on the financial details.. NYSE had acquired 5 per cent of NSE in 2007 for 115 million dollars, valuing the bourse at about 2.3 billion dollars. However, in June last year, private equity firm Norwest Venture Partners bought a little over two per cent stake from IL&FS Securities Services in a secondary transaction for Rs 250 crore, thus valuing NSE at about 2.5 billion dollars. NSE’s current shareholders include Indian and global banks, insurance companies as also investment companies from India and abroad. Shares of close to 1,500 companies are traded on NSE with a combined market capitalisation of over Rs 60,00,000 crore. The average daily turnover at the exchange is close to 20 billion dollars (about Rs 88,000 crore). Commenting on the deal, NSE Managing Director Ravi Narain said: “Temasek is a well-respected investor and we welcome them as a shareholder.” Temasek Senior MD Manish Kejriwal said that the company sees its investment in NSE as a “good proxy” to India’s economic growth and development of its capital markets. source: Economictimes