Blackstone's Aadhar Housing Finance targets $600 million IPO: Report

Blackstone-owned home loans provider Aadhar Housing Finance is targeting a $600-650 million initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of up to $3 billion, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Private equity group Blackstone acquired Aadhar for about $300 million in 2019. This will be the firm's second attempt at an IPO as its previous $1 billion IPO plan in 2022 was called off amid market volatility caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Aadhar plans to file its IPO papers with India's market regulator within the next two weeks, sources told Reuters. The planned IPO is coming at a time when India's stock markets are at their record high. Reuters said that the country is currently seeing record listing plans, driven by expectations of political stability and a fast-growing economy. 

India's stock market recently overtook that of Hong Kong to become the world's fourth biggest, and the benchmark index Sensex is trading near record highs.

"Blackstone wants to capitalise on these market conditions and sell a part of its stake. Timing is key to gradually sell down," one of the two sources was quoted as saying by Reuters. Aadhar has appointed investment banks Citi, Nomura, and India's Kotak and ICICI Bank as advisors for its latest IPO filing, with a listing in Mumbai planned by May, the sources told the news agency.

Aadhar offers housing loans of up to $18,000 to people with monthly incomes as low as $75 in a country where rising real estate prices have made homeownership increasingly difficult in major cities. Most of its loans are to "economically weaker sections and low-income groups", the company says. 

Aadhar, which manages $2 billion worth of loans with 479 branches in 20 states, reported a 22 per cent growth in its net profit to $65 million in 2022-23.

(With inputs from Reuters)