Sharekhan based in Mumbai will be added to BNP Paribas’ Personal Investors division that serves around 1.7 million clients across Europe in retail brokerage and digital banking sectors.
The transaction that is expected to be valued at around INR20000m ($312.14m) is currently subject to approvals.
Established in 1995, Sharekhan that is currently the third largest brokerage firm after ICICI Direct and HDFC Securities was formerly known as SSKI Investor Services and currently accounts for 7% of the market share with approximately 1.2 million clients.
Speaking about the move, BNP Paribas India country head Joris Dierckx said: "Sharekhan will serve as a platform for the Group’s strategy in India to offer a comprehensive range of products from pure brokerage to asset based investment services including mutual funds and savings products.
"The purchase of Sharekhan is a unique opportunity for us to build on our achievements in the Indian market and to further expand our business in India."
According to the Economic Times, apart from BNP Paribas, a PE consortium of Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic were also pursuing an acquisition of Sharekhan but the negotiations exceeded the exclusivity period following which BNP Paribas struck a deal with the company.
