Indian mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) said on Tuesday that it will sell 90% of its stake in its education finance arm, HDFC Credila, to a consortium of ChrysCapital and BPEA EQT for $1.3 billion.
The deal is touted as the largest PE buyout in the financial services sector in India.
ChrysCapital said it plans to invest over $250 million in HDFC Credila.
The consortium said it will also infuse primary capital in HDFC Credila to support its next phase of growth to accelerate digital transformation, utilising its deep expertise in financial services, in-house digitalisation expertise, solid track record within cyber security and credit underwriting, and proven go-to-market capabilities within banking and loan management.
“Financial services has been a focus investment sector for ChrysCapital with more than a quarter of total deployments over the last 20 years and more than a third of realisations. This transaction is the fourth investment and third buyout from ChrysCapital’s latest $1.4 billion, ninth fund, and is also the fund’s second buyout in financial services after the investment in Bandhan Mutual Fund earlier this year,” Sanjay Kukreja, Partner and CIO of ChrysCapital, said.
ChrsyCapital has made almost 100 investments, including in Infogain, LiquidHub, GeBBS Healthcare, QuEST Global, Mphasis, Hexaware, HCL Technologies, Infosys, and Spectramind. It has returned over $6.5 billion to investors through over 70 exits, according to its website.
Some of its other financial investees include the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and Bandhan Mutual Fund.
Post the transaction, HDFC will retain a 9.99% stake. Last year, HDFC announced a $40 billion merger with HDFC Bank, paving the way for the latter to build a housing loan portfolio and enhance its existing customer base. The deal is expected to close next month.
The Reserve Bank of India had reportedly asked HDFC to reduce its shareholding in HDFC Credila to 10% within two years of the effective date of the merger.
