India's CRISIL Ratings buys 8.9 pct stake in rival CARE for $68 mln
29/06/2017 09:50
MUMBAI, June 29 (Reuters) - CRISIL Ltd CRSL.NS , majority
owned by S&P Global Inc, bought a 8.9 percent stake in rival
CARE Ratings for 4.36 billion rupees ($67.55 million), expanding
into the country's ratings business at a time of surging
corporate bond issuance.
CRISIL said it bought the stake from Canara Bank Ltd
CNBK.NS . The investment comes as corporate bond issuance done
through private placements jumped 42.9 percent to 7 trillion
rupees in the year ended in March from the previous year.
The company said India's ratings sector would continue to
benefit from increased issuances of bonds and loans because of
rising capital investments and infrastructure financing.
"This stake purchase is an investment in the excellent long
term prospects of the credit rating sector in the country,"
CRISIL said in a statement.
CARE is the only of India's four major ratings agencies to
be independently owned, with no affiliation to S&P, Moody's
Investor Service, or Fitch Ratings.
Although rating agencies have benefitted from corporate bond
issuances, the sector is also facing increased scrutiny from
market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India over
concerns they took belated action in a slew of recent corporate
bond defaults.
($1 = 64.5475 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Rafael Nam)
((suvashree.dchoudhury@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-61807223;
Reuters Messaging:
suvashree.dchoudhury.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: INDIA CRISIL/STAKE