Bajaj Housing Finance, a subsidiary of Bajaj Finance, is tapping the capital markets with an initial public offering (IPO) of ₹4,000 crore.
The share sale is being done to comply with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) rules that state that the upper layer non-banking finance companies (NBFC-UL) should list on the stock exchanges by September 2025.
In 2021, the RBI had announced a scale-based regulation for non-bank lenders as part of which they were segmented into four layers. Later, in September 30, 2022, the banking regulator had announced the list of more than a dozen such NBFCs in the upper layer list.
Apart from Bajaj Housing Finance, the other entities include Tata Sons and Tata Capital Financial Services. Both of these Tata group firms are reportedly looking at ways to avoid the IPO.
Bajaj Housing Finance said in a statement that the planned IPO will have a fresh issue of shares worth ₹4000 crore. It will also include an offer for sale. The float would be subject to market conditions, approvals and regulatory clearances and valuation.
The company is expected to file draft documents with Sebi shortly.
Shares of Bajaj Finance on Thursday ended with gains of 1.22 per cent or ₹83.15 at ₹6,923.25 in the BSE. For the nine months ended December 31, 2023, the company had a loan book of ₹85,929 crore, an increase of 31 per cent over the previous year period. Net disbursements showed an increase of 31 per cent to ₹25,308 crore. On the other hand, its net profit witnessed a growth of 41 per cent to ₹1,350 crore.
Aadhar Housing Finance, a Blackstone-backed firm, and India Shelter Finance are among the two housing finance companies that have listed on the bourses in the past few months.
