Mumbai: State-owned lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) is selling stake in its housing finance arm — PNB Housing Finance – to General Atlantic Group and VardePartners for Rs 1,851 crore at Rs 850 per share.
Both VardePartners and General Atlantic Group will buy 1.089 crore shares each at Rs 850 per share in the housing finance company from Punjab National Bank.
After the transaction, Punjab National Bank will continue to hold a strategic stake of 19.78 per cent in the housing finance company and will remain the promoter and strategic shareholder of the company, the lender informed the stock exchanges on Friday.
Earlier in July 2018, PNB housing finance had informed the exchanges that PNB and Quality Investment Holding (QIH) were considering a joint stake of a minimum of 51 per cent in the housing finance company. However, in November 2018, PNB housing finance said that PNB will independently pursue and proceed with the sale of its shareholding to financial investors via a competitive bidding process.
QIH, on the other hand, had decided to withdraw from the joint sale process. However, QIH had stated that it is considering all options including re-starting the sale process (whether jointly or independently) depending upon market conditions amongst other factors.
It had also mentioned that it might consider buying an additional stake in PNB Housing Finance Company or participate in a potential sale process as a buyer.
PNB was trading 0.63 per cent higher than its previous close at Rs 95.95 on the BSE while PNB Housing Finance company was trading 3.54 per cent higher than its previous close at Rs 860.10 on the BSE.
