Indian lender, Bank of India is set to enter into a joint venture with AXA Investment Managers Asia Holdings Pvt. Ltd.

The two companies said in a joint statement that the new joint venture will manage the asset management business of Bharti AXA Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. The Indian bank will hold a 51% stake in the venture and the remaining 49 per cent will be held by the AXA Group.

Bharti AXA Investment Managers is a joint venture between Bharti Ventures Ltd and AXA Investment Managers and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings. Bharti AXA Investment Managers operates Bharti AXA Mutual Fund in the country.

AXA Investment Managers is one of the leading largest European-based asset managers with as much as Euro 514 billion in assets under management (AUM) at the time of September 2011.

The transaction, for which Ernst &Young were the advisers, is yet to receive regulatory approvals. The shares of Bank of India rose 1.73% to Rs. 346.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange at the time of reporting.

The government of India owns a 65.86% stake in Bank of India. The bank has a total of 49 million customers.