New York-headquartered, BlackRock has acquired the 40% stake held by Merrill Lynch in mutual fund DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers. The mutual fund house will be renamed DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund while DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers will be renamed ‘DSP BlackRock Investment Managers’.

The remaining 60 per cent will continue to be held by the DSP Group (Hemendra Kothari and his associate companies).

Hemendra Kothari, chairman of DSSML-FM, said the deal is in line with the realignment of Merrill Lynch asset management business and there is no cash transaction involved.

BlackRock serves clients from offices in 19 countries, maintaining a major presence in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The company globally has asset under management of Rs 52 lakh crore, around ten times the size of the Indian mutual fund industry at Rs 5.4 lakh crore.

DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers was formed in 1996 as a joint venture between DSP Merrill Lynch and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. It had Rs 34,083.7 crore assets of under management as on December 31.