Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) has announced the entry of new anchor investor Reliance Exchangenext Ltd (R Next), the wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL).
R Next, the owner of a national commodity spot exchange, called Reliance Spot Exchange Infrastructure Ltd (RSX) has acquired requisite 26% stake to become anchor investor in ICEX from the original promoter Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd (IBFSL), which held 40% stake in the exchange. Post stake sale, IBFSL’s stake in the exchange stands at 14%.
Apart from R Next, IBFSL, and MMTC, ICEX boasts some of the most pedigreed institutions among its strategic investors, viz. Indian Potash Limited (IPL), Krishak Bharti (KRIBHCO) and IDFC limited.
Rajnikant Patel, President and CEO of R Next has joined ICEX as its whole time Director. In addition, Dr R. B. Burman, former Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and country’s foremost statistician and a leading risk management expert, has joined the ICEX Board as a non?executive director.
Commenting on the entry of new anchor investor, Sanjay Chandel, chief executive officer (CEO), ICEX said, “This alliance will help exchange’s business significantly and take the exchange to next level of growth, particularly in its agri?business. Capitalizing on the synergies between the two institutions, ICEX is poised to emerge as an integrated commodities market platform providing a vital link between the physical and futures segment of the market”.
ICEX and RSX both offer complimentary products. ICEX will be able to offer physical delivery facility to its members while RSX members will have the ability to hedge. This will immensely benefit members of both the exchanges and upgrade the existing ecosystem.
It is the strength of RSX in Grading, Warehousing, Financing facilities, merged with ICEX’s cutting edge platform for trading and efficient risk management systems, along with its reach through its vast network of members all India, that shall result in more physical value chain participation on ICEX platform.