Damodaran: Options open

Mumbai, Aug 4: UTI Asset Management Company is considering the option of setting up a holding company to exploit synergies within its subsidiaries and associate firms.

“A holding firm is one of the several options that UTI MF is exploring to harness synergy and build its brand,” chairman and managing director M. Damodaran said.

The man who runs the country’s largest asset management company told reporters at the launch of a corporate research award function today that the process of developing strategies was under way and plans on a holding firm would be unveiled in due course. UTI Venture Fund, UTI Securities Services and Investment and Broking are among Unit Trust’s associates.

Damodaran, speaking at the launch of UTI MF Cortland Corporate Research Award called Insight, said there was an acute dearth of compiled, researched information on companies and management performance.

The contest this year will focus on companies that were unseated from positions of eminence by challenges they could not cope with. Participants will examine the reasons why the firms faced difficulties and the steps taken to overcome them.

IDBI makeover

Damodaran, also the chairman of IDBI, said the financial institution would turn into a commercial bank on October 1, ahead of merging subsidiary IDBI Bank with itself.

Before the makeover, it will transfer Rs 9000 crore of bad loans to a special fund set up by the government. “This will bring net non-performing assets (NPAs) below 1 per cent so that the merger is between two relatively clean banks,” he added. IDBI’s bad loans are 15 per cent of the total, while IDBI Bank’s is only 0.2 per cent.