Baring PE buys 12 pct of Indian brokerage-paper

MUMBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - Baring Private Equity has bought a 12 percent stake in Indian brokerage ShareKhan for 2.4 billion rupees ($59 million), the Economic Times said in an unsourced report on Wednesday.

The deal involved a mix of a stake sale by ShareKhan's biggest shareholder, Citigroup Venture Capital (CVC), and fresh shares, the paper said, adding the deal valued the brokerage at 20 billion rupees.

CVC India country head Ajay Relan confirmed ShareKhan had inducted new investors but declined to comment on valuations, the paper said. CVC owns 75 percent of the brokerage and lender Infrastructure Development Finance Co (IDFC.BO) owns 10 percent.

Ajay Relan could not be reached for comment immediately.

CVC and IDFC had bought their stake for about 6.5 billion rupees last year from ShareKhan's founders, GE Intel Capital, and some other funds, the paper said. ($1=40.5 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by John Mair)