CIMB set to make South Asian foray

CIMB will next week open a representative office in Mumbai, India, and form a partnership with the Kotak Mahindra Group, say sources


Kuala Lumpur: The country's second largest banking group, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, is set to make its first foray into South Asia.

Sources said it will next week open a representative office in Mumbai, India, and form a working partnership with the Kotak Mahindra Group, one of the country's top banking and financial services group.

It is also expected to form an alliance with some partners in Sri Lanka to tap on the burgeoning investment banking opportunities in the island state.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said recently that CIMB's strategy for the India, China and Middle East regions would be to form working partnerhips with established players there, rather than acquire equity stakes.

"We're looking at working partnerships, not equity. You'll know our proposition with regard to these three markets by year-end," he told Malaysian reporters in Beijing, China, last week.

Acquisitions would be a priority for the group only in Asean, he said, referring to the grouping of 10 Southeast Asian nations which include Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

"We're always talking (to potential targets), but nothing material so far," he remarked.

In India, CIMB is expected to capture opportunities from flows between India and Asean. It is also likely to focus on areas like investment banking, asset management and private equity - segments in which the Kotak Mahindra Group is strong.

The Indian group's many businesses include a bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, which has over 230 branches and manages assets worth US$11 billion (RM32 billion).

In Sri Lanka, CIMB is poised to have early mover advantage as big and prominent investment banks from the West have yet to enter the market in a big way.

The initial public offering market in Sri Lanka is "boo-ming" and merger and acquisition activities have been on the rise ever since a three-decade-long civil war ended in 2009, investment bankers say.

In China, CIMB has a presence via two representative offices in Shanghai and a 19.99 per cent stake in Bank of Yingkou Co Ltd, a mid-sized lender. It plans to convert one of the representa-tive offices into a branch.

The group is believed to be studying opportunities in the Middle East.