Blackstone-owned Aadhar Housing Finance will once again file its draft papers with capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to get ₹5,000 – ₹5,500 crore through an initial public offering (IPO), according to a report by news website Moneycontrol.
The company is likely to file a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the regulator in early to mid-February. The issue would be a combination of primary and secondary issuance of shares, according to the report.
The target valuation for the whole company is between ₹22,000 crore to ₹25,000 crore, it added. The IPO attempt is Aadhar’s second shot at listing after a $1 billion IPO plan in 2022 was called off amid market volatility that followed the Russia-Ukraine war.
Private equity group Blackstone acquired the home loan provider for about $300 million in 2019 as it bet on growing demand for affordable housing and financing in India.
The deal would be the latest example of private equity investors looking to sell parts of their companies amid record-setting stock markets in India — a rare bright spot for global investors.
The country is currently seeing record listings, driven by expectations of political stability and a rapidly growing economy. Its stock market recently overtook Hong Kong’s to become the fourth largest in the world, and a benchmark Sensex index is trading near record highs. “Blackstone wants to capitalize on these market conditions and sell part of its investment. Time is key to gradually sell down,” said one of the two sources, who declined to be named because the IPO plan is still confidential. Aadhar has appointed investment banks Citi, Nomura and Kotak and India’s ICICI as advisers for its latest IPO filing, with a listing in Mumbai planned by May, the sources said.
Blackstone, Nomura and Citi declined to comment. Kotak, ICICI and Aadhar did not respond to queries seeking comments.
Aadhar offers home loans of up to $18,000 to people with monthly incomes as low as $75 in a country where soaring real estate prices have made home ownership increasingly difficult in major cities.
Most of its loans are to “economically weaker sections and low-income groups”, the company says.
While mortgage lending in India is dominated by state-owned and private banks, newer private equity-owned firms are trying to gain market share. Investors such as Warburg Pincus and Morgan Stanley have bet on the space in recent years.
Aadhar says it manages $2 billion worth of loans, with 479 branches in 20 Indian states. In 2022-23 its net profit grew 22% to $65 million, while its total revenue grew 18% to $245 million, its annual report showed.
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Published: 30 Jan 2024, 21:23 IST