SoftBank invests Rs 2,800 cr in IndiaBulls Housing-backed OakNorth Bank

With this, total equity capital of Oak North bank, a British banking start-up, will rise to Rs 7,000 crore

SoftBank, a Japanese conglomerate, has invested Rs 2,800 crore in UK-based Oak North Bank, in which IndiaBulls Housing Finance has a significant stake. 

With this investment, the total equity capital of Oak North bank, a British banking start-up, will increase to Rs 7,000 crore. 

Apart from IndiaBulls Housing Finance and SoftBank, OakNorth Bank has Clermont, Coltrane, Dascoli, Toscafund and Government of Singapore as other large investors.

IndiaBulls Housing Finance, in October 2015, acquired 40 per cent stake in OakNorth Bank at Rs 650 crore. However, in October 2018, IndiaBulls Housing sold around 16 per cent of its stake in the bank to the Government of Singapore at Rs 900 crore. 

“The remaining value of IndiaBulls Housing’s stake in the bank is Rs 3,000 crores even if one were to go simply by the price at which SoftBank is investing”, the housing finance company said in a statement to the exchanges. 

“OakNorth Bank has turned out to be an excellent investment for us as it is evident from the numbers and the manifold increase in valuation since our investment. Our investment is now valued at Rs 3,000 crore”, said Gagan Banga, Vice Chairman and MD of Indiabulls Housing Finance.

Currently, OakNorth bank has a loan portfolio to the tune of Rs 21,390 crore and has not reported any delinquencies till date. The British banking start-up caters to small and medium-sized companies that provide business and property loans. It has no physical branches and it provides funding through its technology-driven fulfilment platform – OakNorth Analytical Intelligence. 

The bank was founded by Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman and obtained regulatory approval in 2015. ,

It has a deposit base of $1.5 billion which has been raised through digital channels. Moreover, it has net worth of $1 billion.