General Atlantic exits India’s PNB Housing in $127 million deal

BENGALURU (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic on Wednesday sold its entire stake worth 10.69 billion rupees ($127.40 million) in India’s PNB Housing Finance, stock exchange data showed.

Shares of the mortgage lender closed 10.1% higher on Wednesday.

The company, which had a 5.1% stake in PNB Housing as of June 30, sold 13.3 million shares for 802.50 rupees apiece, a discount to the stock’s closing price of 810.90 rupees on Tuesday.

The Singapore government and India’s Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund were among the biggest buyers in a list that also included Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Nomura.

General Atlantic initially invested in PNB Housing as an institutional buyer during the Indian home financier’s initial public offering in 2016, picking up a stake worth 467 million rupees.

The equity investor, which had increased its holdings in PNB Housing through subsequent investments, sold a 2.2% stake for about 4.22 billion rupees in May.

In July, U.S. investment firm Carlyle Group also offloaded a stake of about 13% in PNB Housing.

PNB Housing’s shares have gained around 12% so far in 2024.

($1 = 83.8810 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Devika Syamnath)