In advanced talks with Nippon to sell stake in RelCap: Anil Ambani

MUMBAI: Reliance Capital Chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday said the company is looking at unlocking value by divesting across its businesses and is in "advanced stage" of talks to sell a stake in its asset management and mutual funds business to Nippon Life of Japan.

Speaking to the shareholders at the company's AGM here, Ambani also informed that Reliance Capital will explore all possible opportunities to enter the banking sector and announced that the banking entity of the group could be called Reliance Bank.

The comments came in the backdrop of the company sitting on a huge debt of Rs 18,483 crore as of June quarter. In the quarter to June, its assets stood at Rs 25,511 crore with a net profit of just Rs 138.7 crore against Rs 229 crore in the year-ago period and had net sales of Rs 703.6 crore against Rs 1,809 crore year-on-year.

The Reserve Bank had come out with the draft guidelines for new bank licences last month in which it had said that the companies having a significant exposure to broking and real estate businesses would not be entertained. Reliance Capital has a broking arm.

When asked by a shareholder about the banking foray, Ambani said, "at an appropriate time when the RBI decides the actual process, we will pursue a banking licence."

Citing its recent divestment of 26 percent in Reliance Life Insurance to Japan's Nippon Life, Ambani said, "this is an outstanding showcase of value creation and I am confident that we'll replicate that in each of our businesses as we move forward."

He said the company has recovered Rs 3,000 crore capital it had invested in the life insurance business by selling 26 percent to the Japanese company.