MUMBAI: Oklahoma-based private equity firm Argonaut Ventures and jewellery firm Blue Star Diamonds are among the new entrants in the latest list of the top 20 shareholders of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

These investors are learnt to have acquired the stakes through off-market deals from existing institutional or broker shareholders who have desperately been waiting for BSE’s shares to be listed since its demutualisation three years ago.

The BSE, in its annual report for 2009-10, said the initial public offering (IPO) and the subsequent listing of its shares could be delayed by a few months, till the Sebi-constituted committee chaired by Bimal Jalan spells out norms for self-listing by stock exchanges.

The BSE spokesperson declined to comment on the new shareholders in the exchange. The BSE had allotted 10,000 shares of Re 1 each to 700-odd members as part of the corporatisation and demutualisation scheme in May 2007.

Subsequently, the exchange diluted 51% of its equity in favour of many non-broker investors, including global stock exchanges Deutsche Boerse (DB) and Singapore Exchange (SGX), local financial institutions SBI and LIC and a host of foreign investors including Dubai Financial Group, Atticus Mauritius, Acacia Banyan and Caldwell Asset Management, at Rs 5,200 per share.

DB and SGX hold 5% each while the two Indian institutions own 4.9% each. Each of the four foreign shareholders has a 3.9% stake in the exchange, according to BSE’s list of the top 20 shareholders compiled as on March 31 ‘10.

These and many other public shareholders collectively own 55% with the remaining 45% being held by brokers. BSE’s current equity capital stands at Rs 10.3 crore of which Rs 9.5 crore was allotted as bonus shares in a 12:1 ratio.

“There may be some interest in BSE shares because they have been available at a cheaper price than that at which non-broker shareholders had bought stakes in the exchange,” said a broker on condition of anonymity.

According to market sources, the shares are currently quoting at Rs 340-350 ex-bonus, against the price of Rs 400 (ex-bonus) at which it was offered to investors during the demutualisation process. At this price, the BSE is valued at about $ 800 million against close to a billion soon after demutualisation.