Mumbai: Top private equity funds like Blackstone Group and Schroders are keen to buy a stake in India’s Reliance Mutual Fund, a unit of Reliance Capital Ltd. the Economic Times reported today.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said Reliance Capital was expecting a valuation for the asset management business of $1.2 billion, or 10% of its assets under management of Rs488.3 billion ($12 billion).

A Reliance Capital spokesman declined comment. Reliance Capital shares touched a record high of Rs772.90 before slipping back to stand 3.4% up at Rs768 in a mildly firmer market.

India’s mutual fund industry, whose assets grew 36% to Rs3.5 trillion between May 2006 and April this year, has been attracting many global players.

In March, Dutch money manager Robeco NV bought a 49% stake in Canara Bank’s asset management unit for Rs1.15 billion, valuing the firm at about 10% of the assets.

In January, UBS bought 100% of Standard Chartered’s Indian mutual fund unit for about $118 million. That deal valued Standard Chartered’s mutual fund unit at about 4% of assets under management.