Delhi-based DMI Group, which operates in consumer lending and affordable housing segments, has raised $123 million (about Rs 940 crore at current exchange rate) of equity capital from South Korean gaming company Nexon, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The current round takes the total equity capital raised by DMI since 2008 to more than $800 million.
In the past 18 months alone, DMI has been able to continually raise capital and has added $343 million of equity money and $350 million from non-convertible debentures (NCDs) bought by overseas investors.
In March 2020, for example, DMI Group had announced the closure of a $200 million fundraising from overseas investors by selling rupee-denominated NCDs.
In January last year, the company raised $230 million (Rs 1,600 crore) in equity capital from New Investment Solutions, a Liechtenstein-based asset management firm founded by Takashi Sato.
This current round of equity capital will be used to fund balance sheet growth primarily in the digital consumer and MSME finance businesses. MSME is micro, small and medium enterprise.
The current funding values the company at over $1 billion, said a report by The Economic Times.
DMI was founded in 2008 by former Citigroup executives Shivashish Chatterjee and Yuvraja C Singh. In 2013, the Burman family of consumer goods maker Dabur India picked up a stake in DMI.
The company has 40 offices with core businesses in digital retail and SME finance, affordable housing finance, wholesale finance and asset management.
It has deployed over Rs 15,000 crore in India.
The company has been in the real estate financing segment since inception. In 2013, DMI bought an equity stake in Alchemist Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. The following year, it ventured into retail housing finance through DMI Housing.
In June 2017, DMI launched a Rs 1,000 crore stressed assets fund. In June 2018, VCCircle reported that the alternative investment arm of DMI had raised Rs 1,600 crore for its real estate-focused fund.