Religare buys London's oldest stockbroker

In yet another major Indian takeover, Religare, a financial services company owned by prominent businessmen Malvinder and Shivinder Singh bought London's oldest stockbroker, Hichens, Harrison & Co on Friday.

The deal is seen as another example of India's growing economic clout overseas. Two weeks ago, Tata Motors bought the prestigious Jaguar and Land rover models from Ford.

Hichens, which is more than 200 years old, was bought for 55 million pounds by Religare Enterprises, a financial services company based in New Delhi and owned by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

Religare and Hichens had been in talks for about two months before an offer price of 285 pence a share was agreed.

Religare said that it intended to capitalise on growing appetite among Indian companies to invest abroad.

The Singh brothers, both in their 30s, were ranked number 28 in the Forbes list of the 40 richest Indians with an estimated fortune of $2.25 billion.

The brothers control generic drug-maker Ranbaxy which was founded by their grandfather and where Malvinder is the chief executive.