The Carlyle Group acquires 9% stake in India Infoline Limited, one of the largest financial services groups in India

Mumbai, India - Infoline Group (IIFL) announced today that one of the largest global alternative asset managers, The Carlyle Group (Carlyle), has acquired a 9% stake in India Infoline Ltd, the flagship company of IIFL, through secondary market purchase of equity shares. Carlyle becomes a key institutional shareholder in IIFL and will be invited to join IIFL’s Board of Directors to support its future development, subject to necessary approvals. The acquisition cost is not disclosed.

The investment was made by Carlyle Mauritius Investment Advisors Limited, a part of Carlyle Asia Partners (CAP), one of the largest private equity investors in Asia since 1998. CAP has five major investments in the financial services industry in the region encompassing banking, insurance and housing finance businesses, including HDFC in India. Financial services is a core industry focus at Carlyle, where the firm has made an equity commitment of more than US$2 bn in Asian financial services businesses. In addition, Carlyle has a significant commitment to India and has had a presence in India since 2000. Carlyle’s broad experience in Asia and internationally will bring added value to the growth at IIFL.

IIFL is one of the top players in the retail and institutional brokerage space with its subsidiaries engaged in Credit & Finance, Wealth Management and Global Advisory services. IIFL offers advisory and execution platforms to more than a million clients, through its wide network of more than 3,000 business locations, across 500 Indian cities and towns. The brokerage business of IIFL has consistently grown over the years and has a market share of 4% on the National Stock Exchange of India. Under its Credit & Finance business, IIFL offers loan against shares, mortgage loans, housing loans, gold loans and equipment financing and has built a loan book of more than Rs 39 bn (or US$778 mn) as on June 30, 2011. Under Wealth Management, IIFL offers advisory and portfolio management services to high networth individuals and corporate clients with its assets under advisory (AUA) exceeding Rs. 240 bn (or US$4.8bn). IIFL recently started its domestic asset management business with the launch of IIFL Mutual Fund. Under Global Advisory and distribution business, IIFL has a presence in the U.S., London, Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The Group is also the first Indian broker to receive membership for stock brokerage at the Colombo and Singapore Stock Exchanges.

Mr. Nirmal Jain, Chairman of IIFL, said, “We are delighted to welcome Carlyle, a globally renowned fund, as a shareholder and partner in our growth. Carlyle has made a number of successful investments in financial institutions and has always shown a long-term orientation. We hope to leverage our relationship with Carlyle to continuously grow and expand internationally.”

“We are delighted to partner with India Infoline and their management team. IIFL has built a leadership franchise with a nationwide distribution network in equity brokerage, insurance distribution and wealth management. We are particularly impressed by their ability to attract and groom management talent. We look forward to supporting the company’s growth plans including expansion of their financing and international businesses. We remain committed to investing in India,” said Devinjit Singh, Managing Director of The Carlyle Group.

* * * * *

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with approximately $153 billion of assets under management across 86 funds and 49 fund of fund vehicles as of June 30, 2011*. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Fund of Funds Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America focusing on aerospace, defense, & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,100 people in 34 offices across 6 continents. (*Includes acquisitions of AlpInvest Partners B.V. and Emerging Sovereign Group LLC on July 1, 2011.) Web: www.carlyle.com, Video: www.youtube.com/OneCarlyle.

About IIFL
The India Infoline group (IIFL), comprising the holding company, India Infoline Ltd (NSE: INDIAINFO, BSE: 532636, Bloomberg: IIFL) and its subsidiaries, is one of the leading players in the Indian financial services space. IIFL offers advice and execution platform for the entire range of financial services covering products ranging from Equities and derivatives, Commodities, Wealth management, Asset management, Insurance, Fixed deposits, Loans, Investment Banking, GoI bonds and other small savings instruments. It owns and manages the website, www.indiainfoline.com, which is one of India’s leading online destinations for personal finance, stock markets, economy and business. IIFL has recently been awarded the ‘Best Broker, India’ by FinanceAsia Country Awards, 2011 and ‘Best Equity Broker of the year’ at the BloombergUTV Financial Leadership Awards, 2011. IIFL Private Wealth was awarded ‘Best Wealth Management House in India’ by The Asset Triple A Investment Awards 2011. IIFL was also adjudged the ‘Most improved brokerage, India’ in the AsiaMoney polls and the ‘‘Fastest Growing Equity Broking House – Large firms’ by Dun & Bradstreet. A forerunner in the field of equity research, IIFL’s research is acknowledged by none other than Forbes as ‘Best of the Web’ and ‘…a must read for investors in Asia’. IIFL’s research is available not just over the Internet but also on international wire services like Bloomberg, Thomson First Call and Internet Securities where it is amongst one of the most read Indian brokers.

A network of over 3,000 business locations spread over more than 500 cities and towns across India facilitates the smooth acquisition and servicing of a large customer base. All the offices are connected with the corporate office in Mumbai with cutting edge networking technology. The group caters to a customer base of about a million customers, over a variety of mediums viz. online, over the phone and at its branches.