Even as US-based Refco Inc, reeling from a bad-debt scandal, filed for bankruptcy and decided to sell its futures units, its Indian unit Refco Sify Securities India Pvt Ltd said the move won’t have an immediate effect on its domestic operations.“The way this will move forward is each of the entities operating in different countries will be acquired one by one,” Managing Director Vineet Bhatnagar said. “The fact that there is no bankruptcy filing by any regulated units like Refco Sify within the Refco Group means we continue to operate as before,” he added.Meanwhile, Refco Inc has said it had filed for bankruptcy protection, a week after it put its chief executive on leave amid accounting problems.At the same time, an investor group led by J. Christopher Flowers, a former Goldman Sachs partner who runs a private equity fund, signed an initial agreement to buy the firm’s futures brokerage business, including Refco Llc, Refco Overseas and Refco Singapore for $768 million.The deal gives Refco the option to retain up to 20 per cent of the equity value of the entities being sold. The investment group includes the Enstar Group, Silver Point Capital, MatlinPatterson Global Advisers and the Texas Pacific Group.Refco’s US business fell apart last week on revelations that former chief executive officer Phillip R Bennett, 57, covered up $430 million in bad debts.Customers abandoned the company as credit ratings were cut, pushing it toward collapse.Refco Sify had already said its business was “segregated” from the parent’s US operations, and the Indian unit’s board has declared that “no funds will be remitted” to any of its overseas units.
