Nirmal Jain and R Venkataraman have turned IIFL from an equity research house to a diversified financial services firm with an eye on enduring growth
First impression is the last impression’ goes the age-old adage. And it seems like Mumbai-based IIFL Holdings, had left an indelible mark on one of its institutional broking clients, Fairfax Financial back in 2007. Owned by Indian-origin billionaire Prem Watsa, the Canadian investment giant bought into the financial services company by picking up a 9% stake in 2011. It further increased its holding by 26% in 2015 via an open offer thus becoming the largest shareholder with a 35.44% stake.
Chandran Ratnaswami, the MD of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel, who oversees the firm’s investment portfolio in Asia, attributes this rising confidence in IIFL to the man at the helm — Nirmal Jain. “We were impressed with Jain as an entrepreneur. He built this business from scratch without any family connection and only aided by his sheer ability and drive. This has been the strongest driver behind our investment in IIFL,” says Ratnaswami, who also represents Fairfax as a non-executive director on the IIFL board.
In 1994, Jain was the head of research at broking firm Motilal Oswal. The division was set up as an independent unit called Inquire. After spending about a year, Jain thought of starting something of his own and that led to the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. In less than 25 years, he has transformed his one-man show into an admirable, full-fledged financial services firm with a market value of ₹19,000 crore. A weighty testament to IIFL is attracting Prem Watsa, one of the most revered value investors in the world, as his prime investor.
PORTFOLIO BUILDING
IIFL as we know it today has gone through a metamorphosis. Jain set up an independent research house called Probity Research and Services in 1995, which transformed into a broking firm by 2001. This formed the foundation for the one-stop financial services shop, we know as IIFL today.
This story is from the July 21,2017 edition of Outlook Business.
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This story is from the July 21,2017 edition of Outlook Business.
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