Friday, July 20, 2012

Enam Securities employees bid adieu to their alma mater


One look at Enam Securities’ office and one can see big cartons placed neatly next to every office desk with names pasted on them with new desk numbers written on it and everyone is busy scanning the desk and deciding which files and reports to put in the carton. After broking deals for a decade from this office (Enam had shifted to this office in 2001) this is the last day for employees of investment banking and securities division in the Dalamal Towers building, Nariman Point. From Monday they will be showing up at their new bosses’ Axis office at the Bombay Dyeing complex in Lower Parel. Enam has been the behemoth of the Indian investment banking industry and it has acted as lead manager for most of the big and successful IPO’s that the country has seen. On November 16, 2010, Vallabh Bhanshali, promoter of Enam had put a fullstop to this business by selling it off to Axis Bank which had then recently appointed Shikha Sharma as its MD and CEO. Bhanshali was advised by Anil Singhvi whereas Macquire Group had brokered the deal from Axis’s end which was signed in this south Mumbai office. Interestingly since its sell off to Axis, Enam has not brokered any big ticket transactions and insiders say it’s mostly the old deals that they have been working on before the merger took place. Its last IPO being the small sized central government’s realty company NBCC. There has been no news of any job cuts in the team. After sixteen months of hanging by the fence, reserve bank of India had finally approved the merger in April this year. Initially the deal was concluded at Rs 2070 crore, after coming under the central bank’s scanner the deal value was brought down by one-third the actual value. For Axis, which does not stand anywhere close to the league table this deal is supposed to change its future. Though the final approval from the share holders, high court and securities and exchange board of India is still awaited, the final integration will take place by the end of the year. The moving out of the employees from Dalamal Tower also means that the commercial office tower which the promoters of Enam had bought in the commercial business district Bandra Kurla Complex will need lesser office space. Earlier the promoters had thought that the team will operate out of the BKC office even after the sale. Sources say Enam is now either looking to sell off or lease the nearly 2 lakh sft space to possible tenants. Property consultants have been sounded off for the same, but for now its adieu time for employees in the investment banking, institutional and retail brokerage and other segments like financial distribution from South Mumbai office address.