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Dutch promoter may exit Credit Access Grameen at $2.7 billion valuation
Credit Access India, which owns a 66.56% stake in the microlender, is reportedly looking for potential buyers
The Dutch promoter of India’s largest microlender, Credit Access Grameen Ltd, may exit the firm, Mint reported, citing two unidentified executives aware of the development.
Credit Access India B.V., which owns a 66.56% stake in the microlender, is seeking a valuation of up to ₹24,000 crore, or $2.7 billion, and is looking for potential buyers. Taken over by the Amsterdam-based promoters in 2014, Credit Access Grameen has a presence across 16 states via 1,976 branches.
The promoters of the 1999 founded South Bengaluru-based listed firm have hired investment bankers Jefferies, Barclays Investment Bank, and Bank of America to shortlist buyers, with several banks having expressed interest in a potential takeover, the report said.
The deal would entail an open offer requiring approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The deal, if it goes through, would be the biggest in India’s $51 billion microfinance industry, which as 87 microfinance firms.
Non-profit T. Muniswamappa Trust (TMT) founded the firm to support women from weaker section take up entrepreneurial activities. In 2007, the non-banking finance company in microfinance (NBFC-MFI) business came under the supervision of RBI. In its early years, The Grameen Trust, Bangladesh, had provided $35,000 in seed capital funding to TMT for replicating the Grameen Bank Bangladesh microfinance model that was inspired by Bangladeshi Nobel laureate and now head of Bangladesh’s interim government Muhammad Yunus.
The latest development coincides with the Dutch promoters’ strategy to reduce stakes in Indian microfinance. In June last year, they had sold 5.8% of their stake, worth about ₹1,100 crore, through a block deal.
US-based private equity firm Olympus Capital Asia, Asian Development Bank, a clutch of family offices, and high net-worth individuals have invested in CreditAcccess India B.V. The firm has gross loan assets of ₹26,700 crore at the end of FY 2024.
Among Credit Access Grameen’s promoters’ entities, or Credit Access India B.V., Olympus Capital Asia, a US-based fund focusing on mid-cap Asian firms, alone has a 15% share. Asian Development Bank owns 9% of the promoter entity, and around 50% is held collectively by family offices and HNIs.
In FY24, total income touched ₹5,172.65 crores, from ₹3,550.8 crores in FY23 and just ₹147.8 crores in 2014 when the Amsterdam-based promoter took over.
A recent report by Goldman Sachs highlighted that the firm’s district-based expansion strategy has enabled lower credit costs and higher operating leverage. With this approach, the firm will have a loan book of approximately ₹51,900 crore by 2028.
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