Indiabulls Housing Finance sells more stake in OakNorth for Rs 220 crore

 

Indiabulls Housing Finance on Friday said it had sold a portion of its stake in OakNorth Holdings, the parent company of OakNorth Bank, for Rs 220 crore. The lender has been gradually selling its stake in the UK-based bank (OakNorth Bank), too.

In the past couple of months, it had sold parts of its stake in OakNorth Bank to US-based Riva Capital Partners for about Rs 441 crore, TEMF, a fund managed by Toscafund Asset Management, for around Rs 630 crore and to HighSage Ventures, a Boston-based investment firm for Rs 440 crore.

The mortgage lender has said the proceeds will be used to bolster the capital adequacy ratio of the lender. After the latest stake sale, the company has raised a total of Rs 2,493 crores in fresh equity in September and October.

Indiabulls Housing extends rally on buying by FPIs, zooms 40% in two days

Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance rallied 13 per cent to Rs 377 in early morning deals on Friday on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought nearly one percentage points stake in the company through open market. The stock of the housing finance company had zoomed 25 per cent on Thursday.

On November 28, Government Pension Fund Global had bought 3.1 million equity shares, representing 0.73 per cent stake, in Indiabulls Housing Finance for Rs 95 crore on the NSE, bulk deal data shows. The FPIs purchased these shares at the price of Rs 305.60 per share, data shows. The name of the sellers were not ascertained immediately.

With today’s rally, the stock price of Indiabulls Housing Finance has appreciated by 127 per cent from its low of Rs 166 touched on October 17, 2019.

The counter has seen huge trading volumes, with a combined 36 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE till 09:42 am.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has informed the Delhi High Court that it is examining the inspection reports of Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBHFL) and Indiabulls Venture and has not found irregularity in loans given to the five companies as alleged by a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

In a regulatory filing, IBHFL said, the MCA, Government of India, filed an affidavit in the Court stating “As far as the loans given by IBHFL to five companies, viz, DLF, Amricorp, Vatika, ADAG and Chordia which are the subject matter of the instant Writ Petition, the report states that loans given to Amricorp, ADAG and DLF have been repaid and loans given to other two entities viz Vatika and Chordia reported to be “Standard Accounts”.

The petitioners had alleged in the PIL that the loans were given to shell companies. The company had refuted the allegations in the court and had submitted documentary proofs and bank statements with respect to these loans. Subsequently, the Hon’ble Court had issued a Perjury Notice to the petitioners, the company said.

The facts stated in Government affidavit, filed today, provides a true and clear picture about the allegations made in the PIL, it said.

Indiabulls Housing stock slides 5% on allegations of fund diversion

Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance closed 5 per cent lower on Friday following reports that a fresh public interest litigation (PIL) had been filed against the company in the Delhi High Court, seeking an investigation into its affairs.

Since January this year, Indiabulls Housing Finance has lost almost half of its market value, which stood at Rs 18,202 crore as of Friday. The loss in market valuation of all Indiabulls group listed companies was Rs 36,956 crore since January 1.

The company announced a merger with Lakshmi Vilas Bank on April 5, but it is yet to be cleared by the Reserve Bank of India.

In a statement to the stock exchanges, Indiabulls said similar allegations were already filed under various individual names in July 2019 and that the petitioners had deliberately chosen the route of PIL to attract attention and play into the hands of blackmailers and corporate rivals at a sensitive time of merger.

For the last three months, the company said, it was undergoing various inspections and scrutiny of all the different regulators as part of the merger process and the company was determined to fight out the petitioners in the court. The company said the petition was leaked in the social media with malicious intent and vested interests to create turbulence in the stock price of the company.

“The purported PIL admits that the allegations are the same as in the petition of earlier petitioner Abhay Yadav which was subsequently withdrawn. Abhay Yadav in his statement has admitted that the allegations against the company were based on false, incorrect and twisted data,” the company said.

“He had filed the petition at the behest of the mastermind of the blackmailing racket who was then subsequently arrested and is currently in jail. The courts have denied the bail application of the mastermind,” the company said.

The PIL, filed on Friday by Citizens' Whistleblowers Forum lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, appeals to the high court to initiate an enquiry into Indiabulls group.

The PIL alleges that the company registered 12,000 shell companies from the same location and has diverted funds from the NBFC to other companies in contravention of the RBI norms. The High Court is expected to hear the matter next week.