Kajal Ilmi, founder-cum-managing director of Aviom, told ET that the deal was struck last week.
The lender, which more than doubled its assets under management to Rs 550 crore in one year, aims to grow its book to Rs 800 crore by March 2022.
“This equity investment will help us take advantage of the additional debt which we will use for further lending,” Ilmi said.
He said that the company will soon raise Rs 150 crore as debt. It may look for more equity investments by the first quarter of the next financial year.
The lender, with a focus on financing affordable housing units, had raised about $20 million in overseas loans from Blue Orchard, WaterEquity, Triple Jump and Symbiotics in the past one year.
Affordable housing finance companies were growing much faster than the overall housing finance industry before the COVID-19 pandemic. “While the long-term growth outlook remains positive, the favorable demographic profile, low-penetration markets, backed by the government’s emphasis on tax exemptions and ‘Housing for All’, are sufficient for these affordable housing finance companies to scale. Access to funds will be key up,” rating company ICRA said last week.
The Indian government had earlier set a target of building 50 million housing units by 2022 under its “Housing for All” initiative, of which 60% was proposed in rural areas. It has now reduced the immediate target to 32.6 million by 2022 with 21.4 million in rural areas.
Established in 2016, Aviom is present in 14 states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka. Its average loan size is Rs 2.7 lakh.
saber partner There is a third external equity partner for this. In this, Japan’s Gozo & Co holds 41% while Dutch fund manager Capital 4 Development Partners (C4D) holds about 8%. The promoter’s holding is 36% while the rest is with the promoter’s friends and family.
Saber could not immediately be contacted for comments.
Saber mentions in its website that it has invested over Rs 1,300 crore in India over the past 15 years, mainly focusing on healthcare, financial services and fintech. It has disbursed over Rs 6,800 crore including the exit from Centurion Bank of Punjab earlier.