Bank of India is planning to enter the merchant banking space and it plans to do so through BOI Shareholding. The bank intends to buy Bombay Stock Exchange’s entire shareholding in the joint venture BOI Shareholding. The bank holds 51% stake in the subsidiary while the balance is held by the exchange.The bank wants to provide services related to project advisory and structured finance, capital markets and mergers and acquisition advisory and also offer a full spectrum of financial services to its customers.
Vijayalakshmi Iyer, MD of the bank, said the bank is in the process of getting a licence from the market regulator for the purpose while it plans to put in place proper logistics. She felt this is the right time for the bank to enter merchant banking space. The idea behind undertaking merchant banking activity under the aegis of BOI Shareholding is to minimise the cost of operations. Besides, the profits made by the subsidiary will boost the bank’s bottomline. Iyer said the proposed merchant banking outfit will be prepared to handle corporate and retail bond issuances.
