Iceland-based bank, Glitnir which is in the process of setting up its representative office in the country has hinted at expanding its proposed presence in India through an acquisition route, whenever permitted by the regulations.
Glitner Bank?s senior executive Mar Masson neither confirmed nor denied the bank?s intention to buy a permissible stake in any Indian bank in future. He conveyed, ?Glitnir has applied for a liaison office license to the RBI. This entails positioning of Glitnir office in India as a liaison to our existing investors into India, making contacts for Indian companies into the other markets that we operate in and build awareness of the Glitnir brand in India.?
He said Glitnir has been investing in India for more than five years through its fund registered in Finland called the FIM India Fund. The total fund value is ?120 million as of May 31, 2008. ?In the last years we have become active investors in India. Our Nordic clients have been investing in India and we are working on a number of projects to oversee and monitor their investments in India. Glitnir focuses on a few niche industries like seafood, sustainable energy and offshore supply vessels where we have heritage from our home markets of Iceland and Norway. We plan to be catalysts in accelerating the investments and developments in those industries in India,? said Masson. He said, ?Glitnir bank has formed a JV with LNJ Bhilwara Group to develop geothermal power plants in India & Nepal. Glitnir Bank and LNJ Bhilwara will recruit a management team with the expertise to develop the company with key focus on identifying, developing and building power plants in India and Nepal utilising sustainable energy like geothermal energy. We will furthermore utilize Glitnir?s Nordic platform to Indian companies and be a conduit to help them enter the Northern European countries.?