Mumbai: State Bank of India has sold 4 percent stake in the largest credit information company Credit Information Bureau India Ltd (Cibil) for an estimated Rs 72 crore.
"We had 10 percent stake in Cibil and have sold 4 percent to two IIFL subsidiaries," SBI deputy managing director and Chief Financial Officer P K Gupta told PTI.
Cibil is the largest and the oldest credit bureau in the country having entered the market in 2000. It claims to enjoy almost 90 percent of the credit information market in India which has three other players -- Experian, Equifax and HighMark.
The US-based TransUnion International owns a 55 percent stake in the company. The rules allow 74 percent FDI in credit information companies.
SBI has sold 3 percent of its stake in Cibil to IIFL India Alternatives, a private equity fund of the India Infoline Group and 1 percent to India Infoline Finance, the NBFC arm of IIFL.
Gupta did not to divulge the amount raised by the bank.
However, according to market sources, the value of 4 percent stake could be around Rs 72 crore. At this price, the Cibil has a valuation of close to Rs 1,800 crore.
Shareholders in Cibil include SBI, ICICI Bank (6 percent), Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, HSBC (5 percent each) and Aditya Birla Trustee Company (4 percent).
The Birla group had picked up 10 percent stake in last July for about Rs 120 crore from investors like ICICI Bank, PNB, StanChart, Sundaram Finance and Central Bank of India.
IIFL India Alternatives is a leading mid-growth PE fund, founded by Shivani Bhasin Sachdeva and sponsored by IIFL Private Wealth.
On the stake purchase, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the fund Sachdeva said that rising customer awareness and increased credit transparency will allow customers to take advantage of better pricing on loans.
This is the third deal by India Alternatives Private Equity Fund and the first since IIFL Wealth became its sponsor. The fund has raised a corpus of Rs 2,300 million (Rs 230 crore) from leading domestic institutions, public sector banks and insurers.
