Merger between LIC MF and IDBI MF in advanced stage: LIC Mutual Fund MD

Merger between LIC Mutual Fund and IDBI Mutual Fund is at a "fairly advanced stage", a top official said on Thursday.

"The process is on, it is at a fairly advanced stage," LIC MF's managing director and chief executive T S Ramakrishnan told reporters, when asked about reports of the merger.

Recent media reports have said that LIC Mutual Fund plans to absorb IDBI Mutual Fund following a regulatory diktat barring a single promoter from owning more than 10 per cent stake in two asset management companies. IDBI Bank, the parent of IDBI MF, is majority owned by LIC for the last few years.

Ramakrishnan added that as and when LIC MF, the 22nd largest MF in the country with over Rs 18,000 crore in assets under management, is in a firm comment on the merger process, it will inform everybody.

According to reports, there were two attempts to sell IDBI Mutual Fund that could not be successful, and it resulted in the merger with a company owned by the same parent.

Meanwhile, Ramakrishnan said