Centrum Housing Finance acquires home loan book of National Trust Housing Finance for Rs 112 crore

Morgan Stanley-backed Centrum Housing Finance, an arm of the diversified Centrum Group, has paid Rs 112 crore for the Rs 300-crore-home loan portfolio of Chennai-based National Trust Housing Finance.

Centrum Housing has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the housing finance business of National Trust Housing Finance, the Centrum group said in a statement, without disclosing the value of the transaction.

However, sources told PTI that the Jaspal Bindra-run company has paid around Rs 112 crore for the transaction.

In 2020, Wall Street brokerage Morgan Stanley paid Rs 190 crore for a 20 per cent stake in Centrum Housing Finance.

Centrum Housing Finance, the affordable housing finance arm of the Centrum Group, also runs Unity Small Finance Bank.

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National Trust Housing Finance is into affordable housing finance since the mid-1990s and is present in 17 cities across four southern states. It has a loan book of over Rs 300 crore and around 150 employees and Centrum will acquire the housing finance business, including the loan portfolio, branches and employees.

Centrum Housing has a loan book of over Rs 700 crore now and this deal will take it to cross the Rs 1,000 crore-mark. It began operations in 2017 and offers home loans, loan against property, plot purchase and construction, and home extension loans across 10 states, and employs over 500.

Jaspal Bindra, executive chairman of Centrum Group, said the acquisition will help the company expand its geographical coverage, add origination capacities to augment organic growth.

"There is higher demand for affordable housing in small cities now and we believe this sector has immense growth potential," he added.