Advent-backed Svatantra Microfin files for $315 million IPO

Indian non-banking lender Svatantra Microfin has filed for an initial public offering worth 30 billion rupees ($314.33 million), according to draft papers filed late on Thursday.

The filing comes as India's primary market sees a rebound after a lacklustre first half of the year, with ‌the Middle East ⁠conflict ⁠and a spike in crude oil prices weighing on sentiment.

Here are more ​details:

The microfinance company is issuing new shares worth up to 15 billion rupees, while existing investors Advent International and Multiples are offloading an additional 15 billion rupees' worth of shares.


​The private equity firms had jointly invested ⁠19.30 billion ‌rupees in Svatantra Microfin in March 2024. ​Advent affiliate ​Violicina holds a stake of 28.02% in ⁠the company, while Multiples holds 11.45%.

The lender ​primarily provides loans to women in rural areas, ​focusing on households with an annual income of up to 300,000 rupees.

Founded by Ananya Birla, daughter of billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, Svatantra Microfin is India's second-largest microfinance institution by assets under management, with AUM of about 211 ‌billion rupees as of March end, the draft papers show.

Larger rival CreditAccess Grameen, valued at around 247 billion rupees, had ⁠AUM of about 296 billion rupees as of March end.

Svatantra reported a 45.8% jump in net profit to 6.49 billion ​rupees for the year ended March 31, while revenue from operations rose nearly 20% to 41.21 billion rupees.

The company plans to use proceeds from the IPO to boost its Tier I capital base.