Anup Maheshwari in Calcutta on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Sept. 26: DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers, the wholly owned asset management subsidiary of investment banker DSP Merrill Lynch, will soon be renamed as DSP BlackRock.

“Following the global merger of Merrill Lynch Investment Manager, the investment management arm of Merrill Lynch, with BlackRock Inc in February this year, the name of DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers will be changed soon,” company head — equities and corporate strategy Anup Maheswari said. According to the merger deal, all Merrill Lynch funds will operate under the BlackRock name.

According to Maheswari, DSP Merrill Lynch chairman Hemendra Kothari is already in talks with his Merrill Lynch counterparts on this.

Kothari now holds only a 10 per cent stake against 60 per cent earlier in the investment banking joint venture with Merrill Lynch. In March, the US investment banker increased its holding to 89.68 per cent from 40 per cent initially by buying back 47.73 per cent share of co-promoter Hemendra Kothari and 5,11,000 shares from retail investors at a price of Rs 2,143 a share.

The change in the shareholding pattern of the parent company (DSP Merrill Lynch) — nearly 90 per cent owned by Merrill Lynch and 10 per cent by Hemendra Kothari — also reflected in its wholly owned asset management company (DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers).

“However, Kothari was not willing to reduce his stake below 51 per cent in the trustee company of DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund,” said Maheswari.

Accordingly, Kothari is planning to buy a substantial stake from DSP Merrill Lynch, the other shareholder in the trustee company holding a 49 per cent stake at present.

The mutual fund was initially formed with the sponsorship of DSP Merrill Lynch, Hemendra Kothari and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MIML) — the global asset management arm of Merrill Lynch & Co.