Sources close to Hichens Harrison & Co have confirmed to WealthBriefing that reports that the Indian brokerage firm Religare Enterprises is close to buying the UK broker for more than $100 million are true. India's The Economic Times reported that Religare was about to conclude a deal with the UK-listed brokerage, which would be the first overseas acquisition by an Indian brokerage firm. Religare’s chief executive, Sunil Godhwani said, “We are constantly evaluating opportunities to strengthen our business model both through organic and inorganic routes, especially for our institutional business.” He did not comment directly on any deal with Hichens, however. The acquisition would give Religare a foothold in the competitive international capital markets. The company currently has one of the largest retail networks among Indian brokerage firms. Hichens Harrison, which has been in business for more than 200 years, offers services including corporate broking, institutional broking and sales, private client broking contracts for differences apart from its proprietary book trades. It acts as corporate broker for small and medium sized listed companies and advises them on raising capital though new issues, secondary fund raising and private placements. The broker also deals on behalf of institutional clients and provides advisory services to high net worth clients. The AIM listed firm has its presence in nearly a dozen countries, including the US, the UK, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina, Dubai, Luxembourg, and Singapore.