MUMBAI: One of the largest life insurance firms in Japan, Nippon Life Insurance on Monday completed the takeover of Reliance Mutual Fund and announced its re-branding to Nippon India Mutual Fund.
Nippon has become the sole promoter of the asset management firm after it bought stake from Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group’s stake in the joint venture — Nippon has bought 75 per cent stake in the company for about Rs 6,000 crore.
Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) would continue to be led by Sundeep Sikka ED and CEO and would retain the same management team the Nippon, said Hiroshi Shimizu, president, Nippon Life Insurance Company.
“Indian Asset Management space is quite attractive and has a long-term growth potential which is in line with our goals. We believe that the core management team and the entire team at Nippon India Mutual Fund will be key driver in the growth story,” Shimizu said.
NIMF has become the largest foreign-owned AMC in India with this acquisition. NIMF, which has a strong retail presence with over 74,000 distribution network wants to expand into small cities and towns across India.
The fund house, which lost market share down from 12 to 8.5 per cent will recoup the lost market share, said Sikka.