RIL set to buy JM Financial, say reports

The ink has hardly dried on the agreement between the Ambani brothers to end their earlier ''non-compete'' pact as Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd has begun to muscle in on younger brother Anil Ambani's Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADAG) turf.

Reports today said that RIL is in talks to buy a majority stake in JM Financial Asset Management Pvt Ltd.

JM Financial, the money manager controlled by investment banker Nimesh Kampani, manages assets worth Rs8,569 crore in a total of 27 investment plans.

Negotiations are under way for a deal that values JM Financial at around 8 per cent of its assets under management, which equals Rs685 crore, said two newspapers citing unnamed company officials.

If the acquisition goes through at that valuation, it would be one of the biggest in India's mutual fund industry. However, both RIL and JM Financial have refused to confirm the reports.

The non-compete agreement, which was torn up in a move towards possible reconciliation between the brothers, had prevented Mukesh and Anil Ambani from entering each other's businesses. Anil Ambani controls Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd, the country's largest money manager.