After 15 months of filling draft papers, Blackstone-backed Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd finally received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise funds via initial public offering.
The firm filed draft papers with SEBI on January 24, 2021 and the issue got stuck for unknown reasons with SEBI. The regulator earlier said that it is awaiting a response from another regulatory authority. However, SEBI's website neither revealed the name of the other regulatory authority nor mentioned what information has been sought from that regulator.
Blackstone-backed BCP Topco holds 98.72 percent stake in Aadhar Housing and it plans to raise Rs 5,800 crore by paring its controlling stake in the housing finance company. The US investment firm acquired the stake in June 2019 from Dewan Housing Finance Co. Ltd and the Wadhawan group for around Rs 2,200 crore. Post acquisition, Blackstone has invested Rs 1,300 crore more into the company.
Aadhar Housing plans to issue fresh shares worth Rs 1,500 crore through the IPO, while Blackstone will sell existing shares worth Rs 5,800 crore, according to the draft papers. Blackstone did not disclose the size of stake that it plans to sell.
Aadhar Housing said it will use the proceeds from the sale of new shares to boost its Tier I capital base to meet future capital needs. As of September 30 2020, Aadhar’s CRAR Tier I capital was 45.87 percent.