R Next , the owner of a national commodity spot exchange, called Reliance Spot Exchange Infrastructure Ltd (RSX), has acquired requisite 26 per cent stake to become anchor investor in ICEX from the intial promoter India Bulls Financial Services Limited (IBFSL), which held 40 per cent stake in the exchange.
Post sale, IBFSL’s stake in the exchange stands at 14 per cent, ICEX said in a statement on Monday. Apart from R Next, IBFSL and MMTC , ICEX’s strategic investors include Indian Potash Le (IPL), Krishak Bharti (KRIBHCO) and IDFC Ltd.
Rajnikant Patel, President and CEO of R Next, has joined ICEX as a whole time Director. In addition, R B Burman, former Executive Director of the Reserve Bank and a leading risk management expert, has joined the ICEX Board as a non- executive director.
“We see a huge potential in the commodity market space. With this, we plan to develop an integrated and transparent national electronic commodity market place,” Patel said.
The move comes about three months after the commodity markets regulator FMC had given approval to the Anil Ambani led Group to acquire 26 per cent stake in Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) from one of its promoters, Indiabulls, in September last year.
ICEX, a national-level commodity bourse, which offers futures trading in 18 commodities, including bullion, metals and agricultural items, has been promoted jointly by Indiabulls and trading giant MMTC , which has 26 per cent stake in the bourse.
Following the transaction, Reliance Capital scrip jumped by 1.49 per cent to trade at Rs 678 while Indiabulls Financial Services soared by 4.87 per cent to an early high of Rs 182.10 on the BSE.