Ambit ties up with Japanese investment bank Daiwa

Financial services firm Ambit Pvt. Ltd has forged a strategic alliance with Daiwa Securities Group Inc., a Japanese investment bank, to jointly pursue merger and acquisition (M&A) intermediation opportunities in India and Japan.

Ashok Wadhwa, group chief executive, Ambit Pvt Ltd, said that India has been a most favoured nation for Japanese business.

“The Indian economy and corporates have always attracted interest from high quality Japanese corporations. Being patient investors, Japanese investors are well suited to long-term investment needs of the Indian economy,” Wadhwa said in a press statement.

This is the second such tie-up in the past three years. In October 2013, ICICI Bank’s investment banking arm ICICI Securities Ltd tied-up with Japanese investment bank GCA Savvian Corporation for similar M&A opportunities.

Japan has been one of the leading sources of capital for the rest of the world with a cumulative outbound M&A of more than $500 billion for the last 10 years, Ambit said. Recent years have witnessed a strong upsurge in collaborations between India and Japan at the highest government and corporate levels with India evolving as a key investment destination for Japanese companies, the statement said.

Kentaro Konishi, president and chief executive, Daiwa Capital Markets India Pvt Ltd said, “Japanese companies are increasingly identifying India as a key geography for expansion given India's status as one of the world's fastest growing economies and strong demographic profile. Ambit has a highly-experienced M&A advisory team with a strong track record. Our alliance with them complements our existing platforms in Asia, Europe and North America and creates a strong support for the strategic plans of our Japanese clients in India.”

In end 2012, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, the i-banking subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank, had entered into an exclusive strategic alliance for cross-border M&A advisory services between India and Japan with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and SMBC Nikko Securities (SMBC Nikko), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMBC.

In March this year, New York-based private equity firm JC Flowers & Co. entered a joint venture with Ambit Holdings Pvt. Ltd to acquire stressed assets in India.

Ambit has advised on 27 M&A and equity fund raising transactions since 1 January 2015, with total deal value over $5.5 billion (around Rs 37,000 crore).

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