A pair of office space sites currently owned by the business are believed to have been offered up for sale as Merrill Lynch aims to consolidate its presence in a city that is now well-established as a critical hub for the financial services sector in Asia.
Both sites are in the Nariman Point area of Mumbai’s CBD and offer a combined total of 13,425 sqft, according to a report from the Business Standard.
Merrill Lynch became part of Bank of America when it was acquired by the company in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008. Its parent group will retain around 100,000 sqft of office at Nairman Point and is expected to make a considerable profit when part of its office space holdings go up for sale at auction in the coming months.
There have been a number of significant sales of properties in central Mumbai in recent months, with Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and Standard Chartered having just sold their jointly held Bishopgate building.
Meanwhile, the Indian arm of the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever recently put its headquarters close to Nariman Point up for sale.
Mumbai is the most populous city in India and is home to many of its biggest companies and dozens of foreign financial institutions and banking groups.
In addition to Mumbai, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch subsidiary has offices in Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Editor’s notes: As of May 2024, Bank of America Merrill Lynch was branded as Bank of America & BofA Securities and its Indian arm as BofA Securities India Limited.
At that time, its registered office address in Mumbai was One BKC, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai 400 051.