IDBI Bank on the look out for potential buyers for IHFL

MUMBAI: Leading lender, IDBI Bank has decided to sell its housing loan subsidiary, IDBI Homefinance (IHFL), unlike its earlier plan to merge the unit with itself and may invite bids from potential buyers soon, a top bank official said.

The move will be aimed at consolidating its home loan finance business which is currently being rolled out through the bank's own housing finance division and its wholly-owned subsidiary (IHFL) based in Pune.

"After mulling both possibilities (merger and sale), we have now decided to sell the subsidiary as we find it as a more viable option. We have started the process to identify the potential buyer," a top IDBI bank official told PTI here.

However, given the present market downturn, the unit is unlikely to get an expected market valuation, which may delay the selling process for another few months, the official said.

"The biggest question is about the valuation. Given the current issues in market, we may not get a good valuation. We may even postpone the sale in that case," he said.

IDBI Bank took over the erstwhile Tata Home Finance in September, 2003, and renamed it as IHFL, solely meant for selling home loan products. IHFL presently has a home loan portfolio of above Rs 2,700 crore with a presence in 18 centres across the country and 150 employees.

The bank decided not to proceed with the merger move owing to the challenges while integrating the two entities in the event of a merger, primarily, issues in the human resources side.