Edelweiss Group
Company logo | |
Public company | |
Industry | Banking, Financial services |
Headquarters | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Rashesh Shah |
Products | Credit, Life Insurance |
Number of employees | (March 2016) |
Website |
edelweissfin |
The Edelweiss Group is a leading diversified financial services conglomerate of India with its roots in the capital markets.[1] Headquartered in Mumbai, the company offers a wide variety of financial products as well as services.[2] It is not backed up by any major conglomerate.[3]
Overview
Edelweiss has five major businesses: capital markets, credit, asset management, life insurance, and commodities. Its main focus is on credit. Under this, the company deals in the mortgage of housing finance and loans for agriculture, among others. Edelweiss has 248 offices in 128 cities of the world. These include 8 international offices across Canada, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Nigeria, New York, Dubai, Chad, and Singapore. The offices in foreign countries have their headquarters in Mumbai.Edelweiss has a client base of 630,000 and employee strength of 6,227.[4] The company also has a strong network of more than 4,700 sub-brokers and authorised persons. Rashesh Shah is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the parent company, Edelweiss Financial Services Limited. Along with wife, Vidya Shah, he holds 27% stake in the Edelweiss Group while co-founder Venkat Ramaswamy holds 10% stake.
History
Edelweiss was founded in November 1995 by Rashesh Shah and Venkat Ramaswamy. Its operations started from February 1996. It was a small office with 3 employees located near Akbarally’s in the Fountain area of Mumbai. Initially, the company worked on private equity syndication and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and focused on advisory services. Rediff.com was among its initial clients. In 2000, the company gained the capital mark of INR 5 crores and thus became a Category-1 merchant bank. In the following year, the company became a capital markets firm, apart from being a pure advisory investment bank. At that time, the company had 10 employees. The number grew to 40 in 2001; 60 in 2003 and 1,800 in 2008. In 2004, the company entered into activities like insurance advisory and commodities broking and trading. In 2006, Edelweiss Commodity Services Limited was launched. It distributes and assists in the financing of agriculture commodities and expensive metals. It earns a 14% return annually. In 2007, Edelweiss became a listed company and ran its successful Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Subsidiaries
The parent company, Edelweiss Financial Services Limited, has a number of subsidiaries. These are listed below:
- Edelweiss Insurance Brokers Limited (EIBL) – In 2000, Edelweiss started EIBL for insurance brokers
- Edelweiss Capital USA LLC (ECUSA) – In 2001, Edelweiss started a limited liability company in the United States of America
- Edelweiss Commodities and Advisors Limited (ECAL) - It is also known as Edelweiss Commodity Service Limited. Started in 2004, it deals in trading of agricultural products and precious metals
- EC Global Limited, Mauritius (ECGL) – In the end of 2004, Edelweiss started a global business company in Mauritius
- ECL Finance Limited (ECL Finance) – Started in 2005, it deals with financing and money lending
- Edelcap Securities and Transaction Services Private Limited (Edelcap STSPL) –Edelcap STSPL started in 2005 as an investment and lending company
- Edelweiss Trustee Services Private Limited (ETSPL) – ETSPL was founded in 2005 in Mumbai[5]
- EdelGive Foundation - In 2008, EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the group was initiated. It is headed by Vidya Shah.[6]
Awards and Recognition
• India's Best Managed Midcap Company by Finance Asia magazine of Hong Kong – 2014
• Best Corporate Governance of India by the Capital Finance International Magazine of London – 2013
• India's Best Managed Midcap Company by Finance Asia magazine of Hong Kong – 2014[7]
• Bull of the Year Award by Zee Business – 2014
• 100 Most Valuable Brands by World Consulting and Research Corporation – 2015
• India’s Promising Brands by The Economic Times – 2015
• Best Brokerage House by Asiamoney’s Brokers Poll – 2015
• Best Private Banking Solution by Asia-Pacific SRP’s Structured Products and Derivatives – 2015
• Emerging Bullion Refiner of the Year by India International Gold Convention – 2015[8]