Bank of Baroda has signed a binding agreement with BNP Paribas Asset Management Asia for a potential merger of their mutual fund business. If materializes, it will be an all-stock deal. Baroda Asset Management India will merge with BNP Paribas Asset Management India while BNP Paribas Trustee India will merge with Baroda Trustee India. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Once the merger happens, Bank of Baroda will hold a 50.1% stake in the resulting asset management company, while BNP Paribas Asset Management would hold 49.9%. The shareholding of the bank and BNP Paribas in the merged trustee company would be 50.7% and 49.3% respectively. The merger will help in growing Bank of Baroda’s mutual fund business further by leveraging on both BNP Paribas’ global asset management know-how and the public-sector lender’s experience in running Indian retail networks to further grow the business.
