October 14, 2003

An India-born businessman has acquired a six per cent stake in Bankinter SA for $146 million to emerge as the second largest investor in Spain's sixth largest bank.

Ram Bhavnani now has authorisation from Bank of Spain to raise his stake to 9.9 per cent.

The 59-year-old businessman - who immigrated to Hong Kong from Mumbai before being sent by his father-in-law to rescue a faltering business in Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands northwest of Africa -- was featured by The Wall Street Journal.

Quoting Bhavnani, the majority owner of Casa Kishoo SA, an import business in Tenerife, the report said he was waiting to be offered a seat at Bankinter's board, which is controlled by the Boltin banking dynasty.

Bhavnani graduated from a school near Mumbai. He then worked for a Sindhi expatriate in Hong Kong and married his daughter. In Canary Islands, he built good relations with local banks, took out loans to import goods and started investing in the Spanish stock market in 1986. He was a net buyer during the 1987 stock market crash and after sustaining losses in the next crash of 2000 and 2001, he bounced back this year.

Among the windfalls listed in the report were the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in Banco Zaragozano SA, which he subsequently sold for $137 million to make a net profit of $65 million.

Bhavnani came to Canary Islands when he was just 21.