Nuvama Wealth Profit Doubles to Rs 178 Cr in Q3

Mumbai, Feb 13 (PTI) Nuvama Wealth Management (formerly Edelweiss Securities) on Tuesday said its net profit almost doubled to Rs 178 crore in the December quarter on the back of all-round growth in fee-based businesses.

The wealth management firm had posted a net profit of Rs 90 crore in the year-ago period.

The bottomline was also boosted by a one-time income of Rs 40 crore from the demerger of the investment banking arm of Edelweiss group, Ashish Kehair, Nuvama Group Managing Director & Chief Executive, told PTI.

The firm's revenue rose 38 per cent in the period under review to Rs 558 crore, while it rose 29 per cent to Rs 1,467 crore for the first nine months of the fiscal.

The company's expenses rose 21 per cent to Rs 328 crore from Rs 270 crore a year ago, he said.

Kehair said the company has received Sebi nod for its Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) to be set up as an equal joint venture with Cushman and Wakefield.

"We got the Sebi approval 3-4 days ago for the Rs 3,000 crore realty fund that we had announced with Cushman and Wakefield last month as an equal joint venture. With the regulatory approvals in, we will soon start road shows to mop up investors," he said.

The firm's wealth management revenue rose 18 per cent to Rs 305 crore, giving it pre-tax profit of Rs 111 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal, registering a growth of 19 per cent.

He said the group net added 40,000 customers in the wealth arm, taking the overall client base to 11.35 lakh, of which 2 lakh clients are RM managed.

Its Assets Under Management (AUM) stood at Rs 73,855 crore as of December 2023, up Rs 8,000 crore.

On the other hand, Nuvama Private added 160 family offices and now has an AUM of Rs 1.68 lakh crore, up Rs 17,000 crore from Rs 1.51 lakh crore in December 2022, Kehair said.

Its overall AUM rose to Rs 2.4 lakh crore from Rs 1.8 lakh crore a year ago, making Nuvama the number 2 player after 360 One, which was IIFL Wealth earlier.

Kehair said his businesses benefited from execution of strategic priorities and its wealth management continues to attract talent with the number of relationship managers touching 1,100.

He also said in the upcoming quarters, they plan to launch an offshore wealth platform starting with Dubai and Singapore.

Kehair added that he expects the growth momentum to continue in 2024, as the country reaps the benefits of the reforms and an expanding digital economy.