Advent, Multiples to invest $230 mln in Indian non-bank lender Svatantra Microfin

CreditAccess Grameen

04/03/2024 14:23

BENGALURU, March 4 (Reuters) - Private equity firms
Advent International and Multiples will invest $230 million in
Svatantra Microfin, the microfinance lender said on Monday, as
it looks to tap rising demand for credit in India's hinterlands.
    The fund raise comes a few months after Svatantra's
acquisition of Chaitanya India Fin Credit for 14.79 billion
rupees ($178 million), that helped it become one of India's
largest non-bank microfinance companies.
    Privately-held Svatantra did not disclose details on how it
plans to use the funds or the valuation at which it raised them.
    The promoter group, an Indian term for large shareholders
who can influence company policy, will continue to have a
majority stake in the company.
    Svatantra, backed by Ananya Birla, daughter of billionaire
industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, provides small personal
loans to rural and semi-urban customers. It manages assets worth
130 billion rupees.
    CreditAccess Grameen  CRDE.NS  and Fusion Micro Finance
 FUSN.NS  are its peers.
    Lenders in the world's biggest microfinance market are
betting big on increasing market penetration, with a only little
over one-third of the addressable market having access to credit
facilities.

($1 = 82.9020 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank
Dhaniwala)
 ((Nandan.Mandayam@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))