Standard Chartered to buy 49 percent of Indian brokerage

Asia-focused British bank Standard Chartered Plc, has agreed to buy a 49 percent stake in small Indian brokerage UTI Securities Ltd for $36 million, local media reported on Saturday, quoting unidentified sources.
Standard Chartered, which in January sold its Indian asset management unit to UBS for $118 million, would pay 1.47 billion rupees ($36 million) to Securities Trading Corp of India (STCI) for the stake in UTI Securities, the Economic Times reported.
A Standard Chartered spokesman could not immediately comment on the report. The remaining 51 percent stake would be held by STCI for now. The British bank also has an option to raise its stake in the brokerage, which has around 170 branches, to 74 percent in 2008 and buy the remainder from STCI in 2009.