Muthoot goes for a split:Sources

There is action brewing at the closely-held Muthoot Pappachan Group. Sources close to the Kochi-based company claim the family is headed for a split. By way of evidence, they point to the fact that John and Thomas Muthoot - the two brothers who head the group - are in the middle of restructuring the business. When contacted, George Muthoot said, ‘‘There is nothing like that.''

Investment banking sources added that foreign banks and private equity players have also expressed an interest in buying into the financial services and real estate arms of the company.

For banks, Muthoot is an attractive proposition because it has a network of 550 branches in Kerala. This network can be leveraged by them to push products across south India. The company also operates in Maharashtra and parts of North India.

Then there is the real estate business, which sources say, have bought the group significant revenues. The IT parks that the company has built in Kochi are fully sold out and include occupants like Wipro and Cognizant. More recently, it has bid against international developers to participate in the Smart City project in Kochi at an estimated cost of Rs 15 billion.

The group earned a reputation for itself by building on the money lending and chit fund businesses that used to be hugely popular in Kerala. Over the years, it diversified into financial services, real estate, automobile distribution and more recently alternative energy like wind power. The group's turnover is not in public domain.

Read more in The Times of India article.