INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - DECEMBER 16^th - DECEMBER 31^st - 2007

RELIANCE MUTUAL FUND SELLS 5% STAKE TO ETON PARK

Reliance Capital Asset Management, controlled by Anil Ambani, has sold a 5% stake to Eton Park Capital Management in a deal that for the first time puts a value on India's largest mutual fund. US-based Eton Park will pay $127 million for the stake in Reliance's mutual fund - valuing it at Rs100 billion - and provide capital for the group as it looks to launch an overseas fund aimed at luring foreign institutional investors. A senior Reliance official said: "India is super hot and at one level there are nonresident Indians who should be investing in our products in a much greater way, which again requires us to have an overseas presence. And again it's not just restricted to NRIs - we can target international investors of any shape or hue." Reliance said the investment by Eton Park, a hedge fund founded by former Goldman Sachs Group partner Eric Mindich, valued the mutual fund at 13% of assets under management, twice the valuation of previous such deals in the industry. '