Nearly 18 months after private equity firms EQT and ChrysCapital bought out HDFC Bank from HDFC Credila Financial Services, the education finance company has pre-filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO).
The pre-filed DRHP does not necessarily mean that the lender will undertake the offer, the company said in a newspaper notice.
A report in Moneycontrol had mentioned that the total amount raised through the IPO may be as high as Rs 5,000 crore.
A consortium of EQT and ChrysCapital had acquired around 90% stake in the erstwhile HDFC Credila for $1.15 billion when HDFC’s merger with HDFC Bank, required reducing their shareholding in the company to less than 10%. The consortium was to also make fresh investment of around Rs 2000 crore in Credila Financial Services.
They also recently brought on board South Korea’s Shinhan Bank that invested $180 million (Rs 1,505 crore) in the company, also giving it a bump up in valuation.
As of March 31, EQT held 72.01% stake in Credila Financial Services, ChrysCapital Group held 18%, and HDFC Bank held the remaining 9.99%.
Founded by Ajay and Anil Bohora in 2006, HDFC Credila is the largest non-bank lender in the education loan segment. The company specialises in overseas education loans. The Bohora brothers left their executive roles and moved on from the company in 2019, when HDFC bought a 100% stake in the company.
The company’s bottomline rose 92% to nearly Rs 529 crore in FY24 due to the growth in the loan book. The disbursements rose 76% to Rs 14,089 crore in the year under review.
