INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Private equity firm Blackstone today bought Aadhar Housing Finance, affordable housing arm of Wadhawan Global for about Rs 2,700 crore,
outbidding private-equity fund Baring Private Equity and Hero Fincorp
“Blackstone emerged as the winner for the affordable housing finance arm of Wadhawan’s Dewan Housing bidding the business at Rs 2,700
crore, which is three times the book,” said a source close to the development
The company was looking at this deal to free up capital and use the fund to ease liquidity pressure on Dewan Housing Finance
DHFL shares plunged 17.96% on Friday
The shares of DHFL has been under pressure after a news portal alleged that the company had diverted loans worth Rs 31,000 crore
The stock came under further pressure after reports about ministry of corporate affairs initiating probe on the allegations emerged
However, the company has denied receiving any letter from MCA initiating investigation, it has said that the allegations are made with mala
fide intent to cause damage to the goodwill and reputation of the company
“The board of DHFL considered and accorded approval to disinvest to BCP Topco VII, which is managed by private equity fund managed by
Blackstone its entire shareholding held in Aadhar Housing Finance,” said DHFL in a statement
Wadhawan Global Capital, the holding company of DHFL owns 70%, International Finance Corp, the investment arm of World Bank around 17%,
DHFL 9% and other minority shareholders hold the remaining 3-4%.
Set up in 2011 after the merger of DHFL Vysya and Aadhar Housing Finance,
Aadhar has operations in 13 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar.
It provides loans to
borrowers with incomes between Rs 60,000 and Rs 6 lakh a year
The average ticket size is about Rs 8 lakh
The company reported assets under management of Rs 7,966 crore as on March 31, 2018.
In FY18, Aadhar Housing Finance saw a 52% jump in net
profit to Rs 99.72 crore from Rs 63.98 crore a year ago.
ICRA assigned an A1+ rating to the company’s Rs 1,200-crore commercial paper in
May.
This is the second deal in the affordable housing space this year
In January, HDFC had sold its affordable housing subsidiary to Bandhan Bank
The potential conflict of interest with HDFC’s increasing focus in affordable housing segment was addressed by the deal
“Conflict of interest was one of the coincidental benefits that we get that by virtue of merging with Bandhan, Bandhan Bank will be able
to carry on the full platform of affordable housing loans,” Keki Mistry had said post merger of Gruh with Bandhan
