The Hindu Business Line : Edelweiss looking for inorganic growth — `Our focus areas are asset management, wealth management and private clients'

Edelweiss Capital is one of the fastest growing full-service investment bank in India. Greater Pacific Capital, a private fund founded by three former Goldman Sachs employees, recently bought 20 per cent equity stake in the Mumbai-headquartered Edelweiss Capital. In an interview with Business Line, Mr Reshesh Shah, CEO of Edelweiss Capital outlines future strategy for the company.

How's the business growing for Edelweiss and what is your target?

As a company, we have been growing at 100 per cent over the last three years. Our target is to keep on growing at 100 per cent. Our focus areas are asset management, wealth management and private client side. We'll look at couple of inorganic growth opportunities also.

You've mentioned inorganic growth, is it for geographical reach?

It is for geographical spread and client acquisition. We are also looking for a couple of research outfits to acquire them. Research is a key area. There is economy research, company research and industry research. There are guys doing lot more industry-specific long-term research. Ours is lot more applied research.

In investment banking, are you advising clients in M&A deals?

We've done quite a few M&As. We focus a lot more on private equity, structured finance. Basically, these deals are not announced aggressively. For us the league table is not important. Ultimately, fee income is more important. On the IPO side, we have done quite a few deals. The IPO business is doing very well.

How's your equity broking business doing?

We are amongst the top five Indian broking firms, in terms of commission share in the market. Even on volumes front, we are amongst the top three brokers.

Brokerage business comprises three parts. One is the institutional broking, where we are one of the largest player. The second one is the HNI (high networth individual) segment, there also we are there. And the third is the retail, where we are not there.

Do you plan to tap the retail segment?

It is an attractive market. It is a relative opportunity, a different opportunity. We have the capability. We don't have the management bandwidth. But I think we can create the bandwidth. We are looking at the opportunity.

You've recently sold 20 per cent stake. Are there any further plans to dilute the stake?

For the next six to eight months there are no plans to raise capital. We'll raise capital only when we require it for growth. If there are acquisition opportunities, for which we need cash or something strategic comes up, then we'll obviously (raise capital by selling stakes).

Are you in talks with some funds for the purpose?

Obviously, we are approached by quite a few funds. We are in conversation with everybody, but currently we don't see the need for funds at least for the next six to eight months.

On the branch expansion front, what are your plans?

We are adding another 14 or 15 branches this year. We'll have 30 branches by the end of the year. We have presence in all the metros.

Going forward, are you considering an IPO?

We are evaluating it. But again, you can do IPO either for capital or to create liquidity. Currently, there is no crying need for either.