Businessworld has a cover story on the investment banking industry which is riding high on the wave of global shopping by Indian companies.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.
The ‘India is hot’ story is attracting international investment banks, all with deep pockets and strong balance sheets, like bees to a honey pot. Some big names include Goldman Sachs (after parting ways with the Kotak group earlier this year), Merrill Lynch (which increased its stake in the Indian JV to 90 per cent from 40 per cent), Lehman Brothers (after leaving the country at the turn of the century) and Credit Suisse (which has had some run-ins with the regulators in recent times).
Meanwhile, the home-bred players, from Kotak to Kampani to Karvy, are leveraging the increased integration with global markets, a new-found freedom in structuring and financing cross-border transactions and a booming domestic economy to find new, profitable opportunities. These are culminating in deals like Thomas Cook where Indian i-bankers straddled the entire transaction value chain.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.