<article>Investment banking and advisory services firm<a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/equirus" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Equirus Capital </a>is looking to expand its services to the debt capital market.</article>

Investment banking and advisory services firm<a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/equirus" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Equirus Capital </a>is looking to expand its services to the debt capital market.
Debt capital market (DCM) indicates a market in which companies and government can raise funding through the trade of debt securities, including corporate bonds, government bonds, certificate of deposits, among others.
Founded in July 2007,  the full-service investment bank – offering advisory services on private equity, M&amp;A, capital markets, and structured finance to mid-cap clients – claims to have executed over 135  transactions across capital raising and mergers and acquisitions.
“We will probably think of expanding into the traded debt capital markets, bonds and corporate papers…it’s a natural extension of what we are doing,” Ajit Deshmukh, MD &amp; Head of Investment Banking Equirus Capital told DEALSTREETASIA.
Deshmukh however declined to provide a timeline for the possible launch of the service.
In debt capital markets space Equirus would be competing with a host of other investment banks including those of IIFL, Edelweiss, Motilal Oswal among others.
Earlier this year, Kochi-based private lender Federal Bank Ltd acquired 26 per cent stake in Equirus, following which the company launched its wealth management business. In April, it appointed Citibank&#8217;s Ankur Maheshwari to set up and head the new vertical.
&#8220;We have also been reaching out to some of Federal Bank’s corporate customers in terms of what can be done in investment banking. Also, in the wealth management space, we are offering some of the retail customers wealth management services. At the operational level there isn’t much of a change,&#8221; Dekhmukh said while responding to the involvement of Federal Bank in the daily operations of the firm.
The stake acquisition by Federal Bank comes at a time when other big lenders such as Yes Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and State Bank of India have beefed up investment banking divisions to compete with foreign investment banks.
Equirus also launched Portfolio Management Services aimed at high networth individuals in October 2016 which focuses on taking concentrated bets for the long term, in high quality publicly listed Indian companies at reasonable valuations.
To expand its business further and to tackle growing competition in the mid-market investment banking space, the company is also actively looking to acquire niche or boutique banks to gain sector-specific expertise.
&#8220;The field has now become very expertise driven. Expertise has now become a moat in our business. Earlier anybody could open an advisory but now people are looking at what have you done in the sector, the number of transactions, and the understanding about the sector. To that extent people like us are well placed,&#8221; Deshmukh said while commenting on the competition in the space.
&#8220;We are looking at inorganic opportunities where we get to acquire some capability. We are definitely looking to do that. Within investment banking also there are many sectors where we would like to strengthen are capabilities,&#8221; he added.
Equirus is reportedly one of the suitors to acquire the broking business of financial services firm IDFC. According to recent media reports, other potential investors include Carnelian Capital, founded by Vikas Khemani who previously headed the institutional sales and investment banking business of Edelweiss and InCred Finance, a firm focused on SME and consumer lending.
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Investment banking and advisory services firm Equirus Capital is looking to expand its services to the debt capital market.

Equirus Capital eyes niche M&As, plans to enter debt capital market

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Equirus Capital eyes niche M&As, plans to enter debt capital market

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