Shriram Transport Finance gets shareholders' approval for merger with SCUF

Shriram Transport Finance, which is part of the Shriram Group, now awaits approval from Shriram City Union Finance shareholders and creditors and NCLT, CCI and Irdai

Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC), India’s largest commercial vehicle financer, has got approval from equity shareholders and creditors for the company’s merger with Shriram City Union Finance (SCUF).

Of the total final votes, 97 per cent equity shareholders and 99 per cent of secured and unsecured creditors supported the merger, according to the count at a meeting convened by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on July 4.

The approval marks the completion of one of the few remaining closing conditions for the merger. The company, which is part of the Shriram Group, now awaits approval from SCUF shareholders and creditors and NCLT, the Competition Commission of India, and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

“With the shareholders’ and creditors' vote out of the way, only a few more steps remain before the deal can close. The merger is an opportunity for Shriram to increase its contribution to India’s growing financial needs and build the scale, resilience, and diversity to thrive in the new normal. We are near the starting line of a new era for Shriram where we are building a fairly diversified loan book, which can withstand the test of economic and credit cycles from a growth and asset quality paradigm,” said Umesh Revankar, vice chairman and managing director, STFC.

The merger agreed in December 2021 advances STFC from the business of commercial vehicle lending to offer a wide range of retail loans, like for two-wheelers, MSME, and gold finance. The merger of STFC and SCUF will create Shriram Finance, India’s largest retail Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC).