In a tweet today, Sundaram Mutual, the fully owned subsidiary of Sundaram Finance, said: "Happy to share that we've received SEBI approval for the acquisition of Principal Asset Management Pvt Ltd."

In January this year, Sundaram Asset Management Company (Sundaram AMC) had announced the purchase of the asset management businesses of Principal Financial Group in India.

Sundaram AMC will acquire 100% of the share capital of Principal Asset Management, Principal Trustee Company, and Principal Retirement Advisors. The schemes managed by Principal Asset Management will be acquired by Sundaram.

"This acquisition is a natural step in our aspiration to become a sizeable player in the asset management industry. The combined business of both the entities will achieve an aspirational landmark of Rs 50,000 crore. We will be able to leverage the combined platform to derive significant synergies," Harsha Viji, executive vice chairman, Sundaram Finance had said.

"We look forward to complementing our existing equities fund management talent with the addition of the team from Principal India. We endeavour to retain and absorb Principal India's distribution franchise with minimal disruption to their commercial terms. The existence of the same back-office service provider (RTA) is expected to smoothen the transition for existing customers and distributors," Sunil Subramaniam, managing director, Sundaram AMC, reportedly said.

In April 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had approved the proposed combination relating to acquisition of Principal Asset Management, Principal Trustee Company and Principal Retirement Advisors by Sundaram Asset Management Company.

Sundaram Asset Management Company, directly and through its subsidiaries, manages assets across mutual funds, portfolio management services, alternate investment funds and global funds and advisory mandates.

Sundaram Finance (SFL), the flagship company of the T. S. Santhanam arm of the TVS Group, is one of the large NBFCs in the country. Its primary focus is on the financing of commercial vehicles and cars. SFL has invested in various entities to provide a gamut of financial services like housing finance (Sundaram Home Finance), insurance (Royal Sundaram) and mutual funds (Sundaram AMC).

SFL reported 8.5% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 259.04 crore on a 0.5% decline in total income to Rs 1,298.99 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21.

The SFL scrip shed 0.64% to end at Rs 2410.30 on the BSE yesterday.