India's Reliance Money, a unit of financial services company Reliance Capital Ltd, said on Thursday it had launched a joint venture in Saudi Arabia as it seeks to expand its international presence. Reliance Money will hold the majority stake and all management control in Riyada Reliance Money, a venture with Bahrain-based advisory firm Riyada Consulting, the Indian company said in a statement. The venture will seek regulatory approvals for launching services including broking, corporate finance, investment banking and asset management, it said. “We already have a presence in Oman and Dubai, and our presence in Saudi Arabia will further complement our efforts to have a larger role in the region,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, chief executive and director of Reliance Money. The venture will also seek to raise about 200 million riyals ($53 million) from a sale of a stake to Gulf institutional investors. Reliance Money would still retain management control after the stake dilution, it said. “The company has already initiated discussions with some Gulf institutional investors for strategic participation,” it said. Reliance Money, which recently launched in Hong Kong, plans to start operations in Europe, North Africa and Southeast Asia, and aims to get half its revenues from overseas by 2012, it said. Meanwhile, Reliance Mutual Fund (RMF) of India has joined hands with the public sector Bank of Baroda (BoB) to distribute its products in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The agreement was signed by RMF Deputy Chief Executive Sundeep Sikka and BoB chief executive for the UAE and the GCC region Ashok Gupta here Wednesday. BoB has six branches in the UAE and three in Oman. Besides the UAE and Oman, the GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. “The situation is in a way a reflection of the increased acceptance of our mutual fund schemes among our overseas investors,” Sikka said in an RMF statement. “The pie is widening and hence the decision to tie-up with Bank of Baroda to ensure we reach all our customers,” he added. BoB is the only Indian bank having full-fledged operations in the UAE. It has two branches in Dubai and one each in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras-Al-Khaimah and Al-Ain. It also has two customer service centres at Jebel Ali and Mussafah. Sikka said the tie-up was an extension of the distributor relationship between RMF and BoB in India. “We recognize our distributors as the most important link between the investors and the company. In order to grow this number and ensure quality service we saw Bank of Baroda as an ideal partner to help achieve our goals,” he said. RMF is present in over 300 cities across the world. It has an investor base of over 6.5 million and has average assets under management valued at over Rs.984.3 billion.
