TPG may be in last lap to buy ICICI Home Finance

Deal likely to close by next week

ICICI Bank — the country's largest private sector lender — may be in the final lap with private equity firm TPG Capital to sell its wholly-owned home finance subsidiary ICICI Home Finance. The deal, which has been in the works for the last one year, is likely to close next week, said bankers familiar with the development.

"If the deal has to happen, it will happen by the end of this month," said a banker familiar with the development, indicating an internal deadline for the sale. Another banker familiar with the transactions said, "The deal is in its final stage where TPG is ironing out business continuity plans."

TPG Capital was not available for a comment. An ICICI Bank spokesperson said that, "ICICI Bank has not yet finalised any sale of its stake in ICICI Home Finance Company."

At the end of FY16, ICICI Bank Home Finance had net assets (total assets minus total liabilities) of Rs 1,529.21 crore, which was 1.6 per cent of the total net assets. Its share in the net profit, according to ICICI Bank's annual report, stood at Rs 179.85 crore. Its net profit had declined from the Rs 197.5 crore recorded in FY15 and Rs 223 crore in FY14.

The deal size is estimated to be between Rs 2,200 crore and Rs 2,500 crore. The bank has been working towards monetising value in certain other subsidiaries and has already sold stake in its general and life insurance arms. The bank has been looking at hiving off its home finance business as the majority of the housing business was being taken care of by the bank itself and, therefore, the lender had been looking at monetising this asset.

Apart from TPG, earlier Baring Private Equity Asia and the Piramal Group were also believed to be in the fray. Standard Chartered Bank and ICICI Securities are said to be advising ICICI Housing Finance on the deal.