BNP Paribas Lease to buy 5% stake in Srei Infra

French banking group arm BNP Paribas Lease will acquire 5 per cent stake in Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL) and in lieu will divest 50 per cent holding in the JV company Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL).
"BNP Paribas will get 5 per cent in Srei Infrastructure for their 50 per cent stake in the equipment joint venture company Srei Equipment Finance. This is cash neutral deal," Srei Infra chairman and managing director Hemant Kanoria said here today.
He did not rule out BNP hiking its stake from 5 per cent at a later date realising their dream to participate in the larger infrastructure growth story of India.

Post the deal, Srei Equipment Finance will become 100 per cent subsidiary of the flagship company of the Srei group.
The 5 per cent stake will be allotted to BNP from Srei Growth Trust (independent trust but beneficiary is Srei) which holds 9 per cent stake in Srei Infrastructure, Srei chief strategy officer Sanjeev Sancheti said.
BNP Paribas Lease Group will acquire 2,51,54,317 equity shares of SREI representing 5 per cent of the company in lieu of the entire shareholding of 2,98,30,000 equity shares in Srei Equipment Finance.
The total Asset Under Management (AUM) of SEFL stood at Rs 19,362 crore as on September, 2015. The company reported PAT at Rs 27.62 crore for the quarter ended September 2015.

SREI's focus as a holistic infrastructure institution has brought substantial synergies across all verticals in this sector, thereby expanding business opportunities.