Newbridge to invest Rs 448cr in Shriram Holdings

In a major private equity deal in the non-banking finance (NBFC) sector, Newbridge Capital will invest $100 million (Rs 448 crore) in Shriram Holdings (Madras), the holding company of Shriram group's three truck financing companies.

"Newbridge Capital will take 49% stake in Shriram Holdings (Madras), which is the holding company of Shriram Investment, Shriram Transport Finance and Shriram Overseas Finance," group chairman R Thyagarajan said today.

The board also decided to tap the overseas market to raise $60 million "at an appropriate time" after merging the three truck finance companies into one entity. "The merger would be completed by mid-November, " R Sridhar, MD of Shriram Transport Finance, said.

The holding company would hold about 45% stake in the merged entity Shriram Transport Finance. The public holding in the merged entity would be around 30%.

Other stakeholders (in the three truck finance companies) including Citicorp Finance (India), UTI Bank, Reliance Capital, FMO (a Netherlands-based development financial institution) and ChrysCap would hold the remaining stake.