With Burman's in the driving seat, fresh funds and a new name on cards for Religare

After a tumultuous 18-month-long legal battle, the Burman family that runs Dabur has officially taken control of Delhi-based financial services company Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) as its new promoter. The Burmans are now expected to infuse funds into the firm and appoint a new management team to turn Religare into a competitive non-banking financial company (NBFC), said people with knowledge of the plan.
"The Burman family is likely to infuse ₹2,000 crore- the funds initially earmarked for the open offer-by subscribing to preferential shares, thereby increasing their stake to over 50%," sources said. The new promoters are also expected to undertake a rebranding exercise, which may include renaming the company and its subsidiaries in the coming months to align with the Burmans' strategic vision, said the people cited above.
In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, the company posted a letter written by the Burmans announcing the change in control and disclosing the acquisition of a total 83.2 million equity shares representing 25.16% of the outstanding paid-up share capital of the company.
REL’s main businesses include lending (Religare Finvest), health insurance (Care Health Insurance) and retail broking (Religare Broking). Last year, State Bank of India, one of the lenders to Religare Finvest, removed the company from the Central Fraud Registry database.