Centrum Housing Finance to raise funds

Centrum Housing Finance Limited (CHFL), which is part of Centrum Group, has signed an agreement to raise Rs 190 crore of equity funds from a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia.

CHFL entered into the binding agreement with NHPEA Kamet Holding BV, which is an investment holding company managed by the private-equity arm of Morgan Stanley Asia. The investor will subscribe to 6,66,90,413 equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each for an aggregate consideration of about Rs 190 crore. The amount accumulated from the funds raised will aid the company in expanding its operations and also to enter into new geographies. The managed fund by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia will be the first external institutional investor in CHFL.

Jaspal Bindra, the Executive Chairman of Centrum Group and Sanjay Shukla, the MD and CEO of CHFL stated that this partnering opportunity with Morgan Stanley poses as a positive business growth potential to target the low to middle income segment in tier two and tier three cities, where the company intends to increase penetration across chosen geographies without being able to compromise on credit quality.

CHFL is retail focussed and affordable housing finance player. It primarily offers financing to individuals for buying and building houses in an affordable housing segment. CHFL has 36 branches and has its presence across six states in the central and western India and serves over 3,500 customers.

During Monday’s early morning trading session, the stock of Centrum Capital Ltd was trading at Rs 23.50, up by 3.07 per cent or Rs 0.70 per share. The 52-week high is Rs 37.50 and 52-week low is Rs 17.90 on BSE.