BackWarburg-backed Home First revives public listing plans
The affordable housing financier plans to raise ₹400 cr via a fresh issue of shares to bolster its capital base
PremiumAffordable housing financier Home First Finance Co. India Ltd (HFFC) plans to launch its initial public offering next quarter, two people said, reviving plans for the share sale that was deferred from earlier this year because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The lender has recently filed an addendum to its draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
“With the addendum filed and the financials updated, the company will start investor roadshows soon. The plan is to go public in the next quarter and the IPO could be launched as early as January. Given the revival in investor sentiment on the back of vaccine development and economic revival in the country, several companies have revived their IPO plans and HFFC has also done this," said one of the persons mentioned above, requesting anonymity.
HFFC was co-founded in 2010 by former Mphasis chairman Jaithirth Rao and former Citibank consumer banking head P.S. Jayakumar. It is now majority owned by private equity firms, including Warburg Pincus and True North.
HFFC first filed its draft prospectus in November 2019 and planned to hit the public markets in March. However, covid-19 delayed those plans, the person quoted above said.
The financier plans to raise ₹400 crore via a fresh issue of shares to bolster its capital base, according to the prospectus and the addendum filed by HFFC. Existing shareholders such as True North, Aether (Mauritius) Ltd, and Bessemer Venture Partners will also sell shares worth ₹1,100 crore through the proposed IPO.
Warburg in October announced a ₹700 crore investment in HFFC, which offers home loans to customers from low- and middle-income segments, who are building or buying their first homes. The deal comprised a ₹75 crore fresh investment for a 2.6% stake and a secondary purchase of shares from existing investors totalling a 21.8% stake, giving Warburg a total stake of 24.4%, according to the filings by the company. Following the transaction, True North’s stake fell to 32.81%, Aether’s to 21.8% and Bessemer’s to 10.99%.
Warburg Pincus chose not to comment. Emails sent to True North and HFFC did not elicit a response.
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