Kotak Bank climbs on divesting 11% stake in ACE for Rs 20 crore

Kotak Mahindra Bank is currently trading at Rs. 462.35, up by 15.65 points or 3.50% from its previous closing of Rs. 446.70 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 455.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 464.00 and Rs. 453.00 respectively. So far 52,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 514.90 on 01-Nov-2011 and a 52 week low of Rs. 333.25 on 09-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 471.00 and Rs. 428.35 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 34,136.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 45.46% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 31.76% and 22.71% respectively.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, promoter of Ace Derivatives & Commodity Exchange (ACE), has divested 11% stake in the exchange for around Rs 20 crore. The bank has sold its stake to a handful of private investors. In compliance with regulatory norms, the bank has brought down its holding in ACE to 40% from 51%.

The sale values the year-old bourse at Rs 182 crore, a little over what rival Indian Commodity Exchange was worth when its original founder Indiabulls divested 26% to Reliance ADA group last year. A couple of foreign investors were also keen on buying the shares however the bank decided to sell it to domestic investors as the due diligence by foreign investors would have exceeded the timeframe for cutting the stake.

Last year in August, Forward Markets Commission (FMC), regulator of commodity futures trading, gave Kotak Bank the licence to launch ACE and a year's time from then to trim its stake. However, the promoter asked for and received an extension till November 10, 2011. According to FMC norms, Kotak Mahindra Bank now has four more years to reduce its stake to a further 26%. In the commodity futures market, an anchor investor can hold up to 26% of a bourse's paid-up capital.

ACE ranks fourth in terms of turnover among the five national level commodity futures bourses. The products offered by the bourse include soyaoil, soyabean, chana and guarseed. The exchange posted daily turnover of Rs 439 crore in the fortnight through November 15. During the same period, metal and energy exchange MCX posted Rs 50,600 crore turnover and agri bourse NCDEX, Rs 4,681 crore.