BENGALURU: US private equity firm Advent International Corp. on Wednesday sold its entire 2% stake in Aditya Birla Capital Ltd (ABCL) via a block deal, raising about ₹1,638-1,640 crore.
The stake comprises 53.2 million shares, which were sold by Jomei Investments, a special-purpose affiliate of Advent, at ₹308 apiece, according to exchange data.
Shares of Aditya Birla Capital today ended at ₹311 on the National Stock Exchange, down 0.5% from the previous close.
In June, Advent sold about 36 million shares, or 1.4%, of Aditya Birla Capital at a floor price of ₹237.8 per share. It had raised roughly ₹856 crore through the deal.
The US firm’s affiliate Jomei had invested ₹1,000 crore in Aditya Birla Capital in 2020 through a preferential issue, receiving 10 crore fully paid-up equity shares at ₹100 apiece.
Based on the June sale of about ₹856 crore and the October sale of about ₹1,638–1,640 crore, total exit proceeds are roughly ₹2,494-2,496 crore, implying an overall return of about 2.49x on the original ₹1,000 crore investment.
“We continue to view India as a key market for our future growth. Our conviction in India’s financial-services sector remains strong,” said Shweta Jalan, managing partner at Advent, in a statement.
The exit comes as ABCL shares have risen by about 70–75% year-to-date, with financials remaining firm up to the deal date.
ABCL reported a consolidated net profit up 10% year-on-year in Q1 to ₹835 crore. Its revenue rose 9.6% to ₹9,502.6 crore, and the lending portfolio rose 30% to ₹1.66 trillion. The company is yet to report its Q2 earnings.
Aditya Birla Capital recently raised over ₹4,500 crore through privately placed non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to help diversify funding and support growth across its lending platform.
The stock crossed a lifetime high of ₹300 on the exchange earlier this month, with the company’s market capitalisation briefly crossing ₹80,000 crore on the back of sustained earnings momentum.
Advent International has around 18 investments in India across financial services, healthcare, consumer, industrial and technology, according to the firm’s disclosures.
Within financial services, key India bets include Yes Bank, Aditya Birla Capital, KreditBee, ASK Investment Managers and CAMS, alongside recent microfinance exposure through Svatantra Microfin.
Recent marquee transactions underscore that financial services is the flavour of the season: Emirates NBD agreeing to acquire 60% of RBL Bank in a $3 billion pact, and Blackstone picking up about 9.9% stake worth $705 million in Federal Bank, along with other large-bank and NBFC deals.
