Blackstone-backed Aadhar Housing Finance files for $1 bln IPO

Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities

26/01/2021 10:18

BENGALURU, Jan 26 (Reuters) - India's Aadhar Housing Finance
Ltd, backed by private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc  BX.N ,
has filed for an initial public offering of up to 73 billion
rupees ($999.68 million), draft papers submitted to the market
regulator showed on Tuesday.
    The offering will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up
to 15 billion rupees by the housing financier and shares worth
up to 58 billion rupees by BCP Topco VII Pte Ltd, an entity
managed by Blackstone that owns 98.72% in the company.
    The filing follows blockbuster IPOs by Burger King India
 BURG.NS  and Mrs Bectors Food Specialities  MRSB.NS  in
December that cashed in on a stock market rally fuelled by
improving outlook for an economy hit by the
pandemic. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2J40WU  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2II3WO
    The filing also comes at a time when non-banking financial
companies are under tighter scrutiny from the central bank after
the collapse of some heavyweights in the sector.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JX0RS
    Aadhar Housing Finance will use proceeds from the fresh
issue to boost its capital base. The company's capital to risk
(weighted) assets ratio was 47.84% as of Sept. 30, 2020.
    It is one of India's largest mortgage lenders to low-income
earners. It had 114.32 billion rupees worth of assets under
management as of March 31, 2020.
    Shadow lender DHFL  DWNH.NS  and other promoters of Aadhar
Housing Finance sold their stake to BCP Topco in 2019.
     Blackstone was seeking to raise at least $5 billion for its
second private equity fund focused on Asia, Bloomberg News
reported in November.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2I807P
    ICICI Securities, Citigroup Global Markets India, Nomura
Financial Advisory and Securities (India) and SBI Capital
Markets are the lead book running managers for the IPO.

($1 = 73.0231 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
 ((chris.thomas@thomsonreuters.com; +91-80-6749-8695;))