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Religare to acquire part of Citi's home loan business
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 15 July 2010, 14:56 IST |
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500 crore, reports Khomba Singh & Paramita Chatterjee from the Economic Times. The deal is part of an ongoing growth drive by REL through buyouts that includes a strategic investment plan worth 4,600 crore globally.
"The demographics of the Citi's home equity customers perfectly suited us in terms of their assets, locations and profile," said Religare Finvest CEO Kavi Arora, adding the transaction is expected to be completed by September.
Citigroup's home loan business, including the home financing and mortgage division, is valued at around 9,000 crore. The deal helps Religare lay hands on about 1,700 contracts and assets under management worth Rs 500 crore, said Arora. Religare Finvest provides mortgage finance to small businesses, equipment companies and infrastructure firms at annual interest rates of up to 12.5 percent. It also provides IPO financing to companies. The deal will vault the value of its assets to 3,300 crore from 2,800 crore.
The deal marks the company's fifth acquisition in three years. REL bought London-based stockbroking firm Hichens Harrison for $110 million in 2008 and acquired Lotus India AMC to expand its presence in the asset management space.
Early this year, the company purchased venture capital and private equity investment firm Northgate Capital for about $200 million. Its investment banking arm Religare Capital acquired investment banking firm Aviate Global (Asia), which has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Melbourne, earlier this month.
Four-year-old Religare Finvest is present across 23 cities and employs more than 400 people.