Crisil becomes S&P’s arm

Indian rating firm Crisil has come under the stable of US rating company Standard & Poor’s (S&P) with the latter raising its stake in C...

Indian rating firm Crisil has come under the stable of US rating company Standard & Poor’s (S&P) with the latter raising its stake in Crisil from 9.43 per cent to 58.5 per cent by forking out Rs 241.87 crore through a tender offer.

However, S&P has no plans to further up its stake in Crisil following acquisition of majority stake. It also does not want to change the name of the domestic rating major.

Also, S&P has no immediate plan to effect a change in the board structure of Crisil.

“S&P’s has achieved its objective of acquiring majority stake in Crisil. It is the culmination of our long-standing relationship. The majority stake will allow integration Crisil’s operations with S&P’s,” said Kathleen A Corbet, President, S&P.

Corbet said the combined strengths of S&P and Crisil will be leveraged to launch an array of products in areas like structured financing, equity research services, indices, fund services, portfolio services, IPO rating, and risk management. She also indicated that S&P’s need for analytic services could be outsourced to Crisil. R. Ravimohan, MD, Crisil, said the acquisition of majority stake by S&P will not upset Crisil’s plans of expanding/ acquiring business overseas.

During its offer, S&P got valid acceptances for 3,120,948 shares or 49.07 per cent of Crisil. “We have achieved our stated goal of becoming majority shareholder, allowing us to integrate Crisil’s operations with us and to fully leverage opportunities both in India and abroad, creating additional value for all our clients,” she said.