Indiabulls HF raises Rs 441 crore by selling part of stake in OakNorth Bank

Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd has further sold a portion of its stake in OakNorth Holding Ltd to US-based Riva Capital Partners V LP for about Rs 441 crore.

The sale proceeds will be accretive to regulatory net worth and capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of the company, it said in regulatory filings at stock exchanges.

Last month, Indiabulls Housing Finance had sold a portion of its stake in OakNorth Holding Ltd to HighSage Ventures LLC for Rs 440 crore.

With the latest stake sale, Indiabulls Housing Finance has raised a total of Rs 2,273 crore as fresh equity in September and October (Rs 683 crore through qualified institutional placement and Rs 1,590 crore through sale of stake in OakNorth), adding to the company's regulatory equity capital.

"Indiabulls Housing Finance -- in its category of AA/AA-plus rated housing finance company/non-banking finance company -- is at the top position for both raising bonds and fresh equity in the current fiscal," it said.

The company has issued bonds of Rs 2,780 crore in the current fiscal till date and raised Rs 2,273 crore in fresh equity, it added.

OakNorth Holding Ltd is the wholly-owning parent company of OakNorth Bank Ltd that was launched in September 2015. Indiabulls Housing Finance had invested Rs 663 crore in November 2015 for a 40 per cent stake in the bank.

With the first major investment from Indiabulls Housing Finance in 2015, the bank started addressing the mid-market funding gap in the United Kingdom, a business similar to loans against property business that Indiabulls Housing Finance has done very successfully.

In the highly competitive and regulated market of the United Kingdom, OakNorth Bank became profitable in just 11 months. Within four years of operations, it has grown its deposits to just under three billion pounds and has lent over four billion pounds since its launch.

( With inputs from ANI )