(Bloomberg) — Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd.’s founder is selling about half his stake in the shadow lender to investors led by Blackstone Group Inc. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, according to people familiar with the matter, as the sector comes out of a three-year meltdown.
Sameer Gehlaut, who founded Indiabulls Housing 16 years ago, will sell roughly 11% to the firms in an initial tranche, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. The transaction could be announced to the exchanges as early as Thursday, the people said.
Shares worth some 7.5% of the shadow lender changed hands in bunched trades early Thursday in Mumbai, according to exchange filings, which don’t provide information on price and counterparties. Indiabulls Housing stock fell 4.1% Thursday, snapping a seven-day gaining streak.
The deal could be valued at about 14 billion rupees ($184 million) based on Indiabulls Housing’s market value as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A representative for Indiabulls Housing and Gehlaut didn’t immediately respond to an email. Blackstone and ADIA declined to comment.
Indiabulls Housing, a leading mortgage lender with a loan book of about 640 billion rupees, has been facing investor scrutiny since the collapse of IL&FS Group in 2018, which triggered a prolonged credit market crisis that led to defaults by more than five non-bank lenders.
(Updates with share move in the third paragraph.)
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