BII, LeapFrog, ADB bet on Shubham Housing as Elevar clocks an exit

British International Investment (BII) and three other investors are pumping $112 million (Rs 863 crore) into Shubham Housing Development Finance Company Ltd in a deal that will help early backer Elevar Equity make an exit.

BII, LeapFrog Investments, Asian Development Bank and PremjiInvest will infuse $78 million primary capital into Shubham. Emerging markets-focused LeapFrog and PremjiInvest, the investment arm of Wipro founding chairman Azim Premji, will also acquire Elevar’s complete stake and a partial stake from Mumbai-based Motilal Oswal.

Shubham Housing is a specialist mortgage lender that provides home loans to lower-income families across India. Headquartered in Gurgaon, Shubham started in 2011 by Sanjay Chaturvedi and Rupa Basu.

The company has assets under management exceeding Rs 2,410 crore and a presence across nine states via 100 branches as of March 22.

“We will leverage the funds to help scale the organization to the next level,” said Chaturvedi, who is also CEO of Shubham.

Srini Nagarajan, MD and Head of Asia at BII, the UK’s development finance institution that was formerly known as CDC Group Plc, said the capital injection into Shubham will help increase access to home ownership for households through affordable housing finance and also support women’s economic empowerment.

Christine Engstrom, director for ADB’s private sector financial institutions division, said this was ADB’s first equity investment in an affordable housing finance company in India.

“This investment will provide growth capital to support operations in the peripheries of larger cities, tier-II and tier-III cities, providing housing loans to lower-income households. This will also improve access to housing finance for women, a key focus area for Shubham and ADB,” said Engstrom.

Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd was the exclusive financial advisor to Shubham and its selling shareholders.