QInvest, Qatar’s leading investment bank, has agreed to make a strategic investment in Ambit Group for a 25% stake in the firm, subject to regulatory approval. QInvest’s CEO, Shahzad Shahbaz, will join Ambit’s board.
This represents QInvest’s first investment in India and underpins the bank’s focus on the rapidly growing Indian market. In addition, QInvest will commit incremental capital to various funds managed by Ambit Group.
The proposed capital infusion will enable Ambit to leverage on its consistently high performing investment banking business and would primarily be utilized to grow various businesses including institutional equities, investment advisory and private wealth advisory.
Commenting on the deal, Shahzad Shahbaz said “We are delighted to partner with Ambit, one of India’s preeminent financial services firms. This partnership will generate a number of synergies for both firms and will dramatically accelerate QInvest’s ambitions in India, one of the world’s fastest growing economies. We see significant opportunities for our clients and ourselves across investment management, investment banking, private equity and brokerage”
About QINVEST
QInvest, Qatar’s leading investment bank, was licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority in April 2007 and is regulated by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority. The Bank has authorized and paid up capital of US$1 billion and US$500 million respectively. The QInvest shareholder structure includes Qatar Islamic Bank as well as other institutional investors, and prominent high net worth individuals from across the region.
The firm has created a world class investment banking capability operating under Sharia’a compliant structures, with the highest standards of governance and transparency. The platform offers a broad range of expertise which enables QInvest to deliver a high value service to clients, seamlessly covering advisory, arrangement and investment needs. The firm pursues opportunities across its chosen markets of the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, South Asia and South-East Asia. Extending beyond this geographic focus, the firm also pursues opportunistic transactions more globally where it identifies high value propositions for clients.
The Group is led by Chairman H.E. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jabr Al Thani, and Chief Executive Officer Shahzad Shahbaz, who is a twenty-five year veteran of Bank of America. He joined QINVEST from Emirates NBD Group where he was CEO of the Investment Bank. Prior to leaving Bank of America, Shahzad was head of their regional investment banking platform for Europe, Middle East, and Africa in London where he was based for around 13 years.
As part of its plan to invest in financial services, QInvest also acquired a strategic 44% stake in Panmure Gordon, a UK listed 130 year old Brokerage firm. Panmure Gordon’s transatlantic platform offers a broad range of brokerage, investment banking and wealth management services. Panmure Gordon is 100% owner of ThinkEquity which provides equity research, investment banking, institutional brokerage and private wealth management services in the United States.
About AMBIT GROUP
Ambit is a cohesive network of companies with an array of ability within the financial service spectrum, providing clients with a range of comprehensive and integrated services like mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, structured finance, public market fund raising, private equity, equities brokerage (institutional, private client) and private wealth management. The companies under the Ambit umbrella include Ambit Corporate Finance, Ambit Capital and Ambit Pragma.
Ambit Corporate Finance is the flagship company of the group. Though the firm was founded over a decade ago but has renewed focus since 2007 after being demerged from the consulting practice Ambit-RSM, and has now grown into one of the most distinctive and leading Indian investment banks in India. A testimony of this fact is the consistent ranking as one of the top Investment Banks per the Bloomberg Rankings. The who’s who from the Indian Business Groups and Fortune 500 form the client portfolio of Ambit Corporate Finance.
Ambit Corporate Finance offers world-class services that include mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; structured finance and public market fund raising. The M&A practice includes structuring and execution of a wide range of transactions with an emphasis on cutting-edge research and ideation, thereby creating a value proposition for clients. A collective experience of over 200+ years in the business, the team is highly acknowledged by the business and industry alike.
Capitalizing on new and fast emerging source of financing opportunities in India, Ambit Corporate Finance offers comprehensive solutions like private equity, structured financing, mezzanine financing, acquisition funding, leverage buyouts etc., with a clear focus on emerging markets for private equity funds, hedge funds, real estate funds, FIIs and global banks for equity/quasi equity investment with a medium to long term returns perspective. An experienced team backed by sector experience, regulatory knowledge attends to clients needs offering them tailor-made solutions.
As a Category 1, SEBI Registered Investment Bank, the ECM practice constantly monitors the capital markets to advise the clients on their capital needs. Institutional sentiment and appetite, regulatory environment knowledge, retail market assessment, interactions with market regulator (SEBI) form the DNA of the ECM practice. Initial Public Offerings (IPO), Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs), Rights Offerings, FCCBs, Buy-backs, Delisting offers, Open Offers are some of the key product offerings of the Equity Capital Markets team.
The brokerage arm of Ambit, Ambit Capital offers services like securities brokerage, equity research, institutional broking, private client group, private wealth management and portfolio management services. The business is split into three major verticals – Institutional Equities, Private Wealth and Asset Management. Though one of the new entrants to the Ambit family, the company is a corporate member of both The Bombay Stock Exchange and The National Stock Exchange of India, providing equity broking and research services, as well as marketing of equity related products. Ambit Capital’s achievements include empanelment with Domestic and Foreign Institutional Investors, servicing large HNIs across equity and derivative segments and a professional team with prominent credentials.
The Private Wealth will begin full fledged operations in the first quarter of FY10. The business is championed by an experienced team of accomplished professionals from the Wealth Management Business. Key services provided include Multi Family Office, Wealth Management Services, Estate Planning, Financial Planning, Tax Planning Strategies, Risk Management Services etc. The comprehensive product range offered will include equities, fixed income, commodities & precious metals, private equity, life & general insurance, real estate, structured products, capital-protected notes, alternative & non-correlated investments, international investments and funding (IPO finance, LAS, Promoter Funding) etc. The Private Client Group, a subset of the Private Wealth business has been successfully operating for around three years now and offering high end, value driven equities service to its set of large clients comprising of HNIs The Ambit Group recently launched the Ambit Frontier Fund, a Long-short India dedicated equity fund operating from Mauritius. The fund will cater to the investment needs of global investors wanting to participate in the Indian equity markets. The Ambit Frontier Fund was launched on December 1, 2009.
Ambit Pragma, the private equity arm of Ambit, constantly explores future business models and makes financial and intellectual capital available to mid-level companies in India. An India dedicated private equity fund, Ambit Pragma specifically focused on offering growth capital to mid-market firms, enabling them to emerge as significant players in their respective segments. Pragma’s USP is its unique offering that combines capital with real world operating experience. With a target fund size of USD 65 MM and ticket size between USD 5-10 MM, Ambit Pragma is focusing its investments to sectors like Food, Entertainment & Leisure, Healthcare & Wellness, Logistics and Infrastructure Services. The fund has already made two investments – Spear Logistics and Prasanna Bus Links and should close its third transaction shortly in the healthcare segment.
Expanding from its core business of Investment banking into newer areas like securities brokerage, wealth management, fund management, private equity, Ambit is on its way to becoming one of the most unique and value driven firms in India.