HDFC sells Gruh Finance shares worth nearly Rs 1,665 cr

Mortgage lender HDFC on Friday offloaded 6.74 crore shares of Gruh Finance, worth nearly Rs 1,665 crore through open market transaction.

"The sale was carried out through stock exchanges at the prevailing market price. The average price was Rs 247.15 per equity share," HDFC said in a regulatory filing.

Bandhan Bank had agreed to takeover Gruh Finance, the affordable housing finance arm of HDFC, in a share swap deal in January.

"...the Reserve Bank of India had granted its approval to the corporation to acquire and hold only 9.9 per cent or less of the paid-up share capital of Bandhan as against its entitlement of 14.96 per cent of the paid-up share capital of Bandhan upon the scheme becoming effective," it said.

HDFC sold the shares in compliance with the central bank's directions.

Earlier on May 24 and June 14, the mortgage lender had sold 7.57 crore shares of Gruh Finance, it said.

As per the block deal data available on the exchanges, HDFC sold 6.47 crore shares of Gruh Finance on NSE, while it sold 27 lakh shares on BSE.

The shares sold on BSE were bought by Societe Generale, while those sold on NSE were bought by SBI Blue Chip Fund, Goldman Sachs Singapore, The Master Trust Bank Of Japan, and Nomura Funds Ireland, the data showed.

"Post completion of the aforesaid sale of shares, the corporation would hold 38.22 per cent of paid-up share capital of Gruh," it said.

Shares of Gruh Finance on Friday closed at Rs 258.40, up 3.55 per cent on the BSE.

In a separate transaction on BSE, Standard Chartered Private Equity sold over 1 crore shares of Redington (India) Ltd for a total amount of over Rs 114 crore.

Over 1.05 crore shares were sold at a price of Rs 108.05 per scrip, amounting to Rs 114.01 crore.

The shares were bought by Augusta Investments for the same amount.

Standard Chartered Private Equity held over 73 lakh shares, or 1.89 per cent stake, in Redington at the end of June 2019 quarter, as per the shareholding data available on the BSE.

Shares of Redington (India) Ltd closed at Rs 108.35 on the BSE, down 0.55 per cent from the previous close.