DSP Merrill Lynch India Chairman Hemendra Kothari - who will retire on March 31 - Wednesday said he has sold his 10% stake in the company to Bank Of America.

"I have decided to retire with effect from March 31 to pursue other philanthropic interests, so I have sold the remaining 10% stake I held in DSP Merrill Lynch to Bank of America," Hemendra Kothari told Dow Jones Newswires.

He will be replaced by Kevan Watts, who is currently president of DSP Merrill Lynch India, which was formed by DSP Financial Consultants Ltd. and Merrill Lynch and Co.

"Kevan has been appointed country head of India for the combined entity (DSP Merrill Lynch) and Vishwavir Ahuja continues as head of corporate banking at Bank of America," he said.

Kothari said the decision to retire was taken earlier, but he waited for the merger between Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to be smoothened out before making a public announcement.

Bank of America through Merrill Lynch (Mauritius) Investments Ltd. and Merrill Lynch Holdings (Mauritius) will now hold a 99.93% stake in DSP Merrill Lynch India.

As at March 31, 2008, the remaining 0.07% was held by private corporate bodies and Indian public shareholders, according to information on the company's Web site.

Kothari has been at the helm of DSP Merrill Lynch since the organization was formed in the summer of 1984.

Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America Corp (BAC) in a $50 billion all-stock transaction last September.

Kothari said that his family will continue to hold its 60% stake in DSP BlackRock Investment Managers, while BlackRock will hold the remaining 40%.

He said he will move on to become non-executive chairman of DSP Black Rock Investment Managers.

-By John Satish Kumar, Dow Jones Newswires; +91-22-22884212; john.kumar@dowjones.com
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