Veterans script a new plot in shadow banking, raise Rs 4,000 cr in equity

It is the biggest ever pool of capital to back professionals in this space even as some of the established players are being put through the wringer

In 2005, Jaspal Singh Bindra cut a cheque of $3.3 billion for Standard Chartered Bank’s purchase of Korea First Bank. “Nowadays, I chase investors for Rs 50-100 crore,” says the Centrum Group's executive chairman, and former group executive director at the UK-based bank. It’s not as bad as he puts it — the firm is in talks with Morgan Stanley Private Equity to offload a 20 per cent stake in Centrum’s housing finance arm, valuing it at over Rs  1,000 crore. But surely, a global banker’s business card opens more doors than the head of a shadow banking firm.

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