Bain Capital is acquiring 90 per cent of Adani Capital and Adani Housing.
The private equity firm will buy out the complete stake of Gautam Adani held in the non-bank lender while Gaurav Gupta, the CEO and MD, will retain his holding estimated at 10 per cent and continue to lead the operations.
Though Bain Capital did not disclose the transaction value, it is estimated at around Rs 1,500 crore.
Adani's exit from the financial services business comes as the group focusses on trimming debt and on core businesses such as infrastructure, green energy, and airports, enabling him to utilise cash for these industries.
A statement from Bain Capital said it has also committed $120 million in primary capital to facilitate the company’s ongoing growth.
The private investment firm said it is immediately making available to Adani Capital a liquidity line of $50 million in the form of non-convertible debentures.
``I have known Gaurav since his days as an investment banker. He wanted to become an entrepreneur and I backed him. He has not only built a good financial services business with a focus on the underserved in semi-urban and rural India but has also valuably contributed to the Adani group. I am very happy that a credible investor like Bain Capital is stepping in now and this will help the business grow manifold from here,’’ Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group, said.
Adani Capital, which has 170 branches in the country across eight states, is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) that started operations in April 2017. It caters to the agri value chain, MSME financing apart from providing lending to infrastructure, corporate and real estate sectors. It has disbursed more than Rs 9,000 crore of loans.
On the other hand, Adani Housing was incorporated in September 2017, and it caters to the requirements of affordable housing loans apart from partnering developers to meet their needs for construction of affordable housing units. Its website claims that loans of more than Rs 700 crore have been disbursed.
Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Adani Capital, Adani Housing Finance and their shareholders on this transaction.Rothschild was the exclusive financial advisor to Bain Capital on this transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, pending necessary regulatory and market approvals.
Apart from Bain Capital, Cerberus Capital Management was in the race to acquire the NBFC business.
“Gaurav and the team have built a scale lending business that supports entrepreneurialism and is trying to solve the $300 billion plus unmet retail MSME credit demand in the country. The company has strong business fundamentals, an experienced team, with ability to serve and expand to core segments such as agriculture, housing and to underbanked rural areas,” Rishi Mandawat, a partner at Bain Capital, said.
Gupta pointed out that with Bain Capital committing Rs 1,000 crore of capital in the company, it can now grow four times from here.
“We see compelling opportunities to partner Gaurav and team to support and facilitate Adani Capital’s next phase of growth by providing access to significant capital, strategic and operating resources, and deep experience partnering with financial services businesses in India and across the globe,’’ Mandawat said.
