Prudent Corporate Advisory Services acquires Karvy Stock Broking's mutual fund business

Retail wealth management firm Prudent Corporate Advisory Services on Friday said it has acquired the mutual fund business of Karvy Stock Broking.

The acquisition has been done through a bidding process conducted by a joint committee of stock exchanges comprising National Stock Exchange (NSE), BSE and the Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSEI), Prudent said in a statement.

As of July 2021, Karvy Stock Broking Ltd (KSBL) had 11.98 lakh folios having a total AUM (asset under management) of Rs 9,261 crore.

KSBL had 4.2 lakh live systematic investment plans (SIPs) with an input value of Rs 87 crore a month. It had a sub-distribution network of over 5,000 mutual fund distributors.

"Acquiring Karvy's MF folios shows our commitment towards growing our geographic reach by both expanding our distribution network and deepening our existing presence.

"It reinforces our belief in the retail wealth management sector in India," Sanjay Shah, chairman and managing director of Prudent Corporate Advisory Services, said.

Further, Prudent Corporate Advisory Services CEO Shirish Patel said the acquisition of Karvy's MF folios will help strengthen the company's presence in the retail financial product distribution space.

Prudent has been successful in growing the mutual fund distributors' network from 8,378 in March 2018 to 17,583 in May 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.35 per cent.

As per Crisil, as of March 31, 2021, there were 1,11,000 AMFI Registration Number (ARN) holders registered with AMFI, while the number of ARNs empanelled with Prudent Corporate Advisory Services stood at 17,583, representing 15.84 per cent of the industry.