Goldman Sachs seeks share of second Indian commodities exchange

By Reena Zachariah
Business Standard, Mumbai
Tuesday, February 6, 2007

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=273759&left...

MUMBAI -- Nearly a month after acquiring 5 percent in the National Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs has proposed to buy a stake in the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), India's largest commodity bourse.

Sources said Goldman Sachs, which holds 7 percent in the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX), the other leading commodity bourse, said the MCX buy would be considered an investment and not a strategic acquisition.

An official spokesperson for Goldman Sachs said, "We would not like to comment on market speculations. But there are a lot of things on the company's agenda in the days to come."

Apart from the New York Mercantile Exchange, London Metal Exchange and The Tokyo Commodity Exchange have also initiated talks with MCX.

The talks were being initiated ahead of the publication of final guidelines on foreign shareholding in Indian commodity exchanges. The idea is to firm up plans in readiness for the guidelines.

The Forward Markets Commission has told all commodity exchanges not to change shareholding patterns until the new guidelines are issued.

The shareholders of MCX include Financial Technologies (I) Ltd., State Bank of India and its associates, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), National Stock Exchange of India, Fidelity International, Corporation Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, and SBI Life Insurance.

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