IFC proposes to invest up to $75m in India’s L&T Housing Finance

International Finance Corp, the private investment arm of the World Bank Group, has proposed to invest up to $75 million in L&T Housing Finance Ltd.

The proposed investment consists of senior financing of up to $75 million in the form of non-convertible debentures, IFC said in a disclosure.

“The proceeds will be used to finance developers of affordable housing as per the criteria specified in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, scheme of the Government of India that aims for “Housing for All” by 2022,” the investment firm said in a disclosure. 

L&TH is a housing finance company registered with the National Housing Bank. The company serves the housing and real estate finance segments. As of September 2017, the company held $1.6 billion in assets.

It is a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings Limited (L&TF), the financial services arm of Larsen and Toubro Limited (L&T). L&TF services about 12 million customers with a reported asset base of over $10 billion.

Headquartered in Mumbai, L&T Housing is currently present in 12 states across India.

Dedicated to on-lending to affordable housing segment, the IFC debt would come with a longer tenure to match the duration of such loans and thereby, ensuring requisite ALM management.

The affordable housing space has witnessed a steady growth as a result of proposed incentives by the government, which include infrastructure status for affordable housing, interest subvention for housing loans and increase in allocation for the government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana housing scheme from Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 23,000 crore.

IFC has been actively investing in the affordable housing space in India. Last week, it announced that it had proposed to invest up to $150 million in PNB Housing Finance Ltd by subscribing to the latter’s five-year masala bonds.

In November last year, Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd had raised Rs 1,300 crore by selling rupee-denominated masala bonds to IFC to fund its business expansion. In October, Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd, an NBFC owned by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd, had raised Rs 500 crore ($76 million) from IFC.

Also Read:

India: IFC proposes to invest $150m in PNB Housing’s masala bonds

India: Piramal Finance to invest $469m in affordable housing projects

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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.