Blackstone to own 100% in aadhar housing finance

BENGALURU: Blackstone will make a fresh capital infusion of Rs 800 crore in Aadhar Housing Finance and also buy out the 17% stake held by World Bank arm IFC for about Rs 400-500 crore, according to sources familiar with the matter, as it closes its first major financial services deal in the country. The fresh capital infusion will double the net worth of Aadhar and cut its debt-to-equity ratio by half.


This would also give Blackstone a 100% stake in the company, in which 80% was owned by troubled NBFC player DHFL and its promoter group Wadhawan Global. The deal has valued the affordable housing-focused Aadhar at around Rs 2,700 crore, which has assets of around Rs 10,000 crore, and a network of 316 branches across 19 states.

Blackstone pipped Baring Private Equity Asia and Hero Fincorp to acquire Aadhar by moving quickly after reports of alleged fraud at DHFL last week. This caused DHFL shares to fall by nearly 50% during the week, and Blackstone emerged as a white knight by submitting a fully negotiated contract as bids closed on Thursday. Blackstone’s total Rs 3,500 crore investment comes in as a confidence booster for the NBFC space, which has been hit by a liquidity crunch following the IL&FS crisis. “Most NBFCs of scale are always listed and this was a very rare opportunity as Aadhar is the largest player in the affordable housing finance segment,” said Amit Dixit, senior MD & head of India Private Equity at Blackstone.

The transaction is the second distressed situations play by Blackstone in as many months after it bought Hyderabad’s Golden Jubilee Hotels in December.



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