Three promoter entities of SBFC Finance, Arpwood Partners Investment Advisors, Eight45 Services and Arpwood Capital, offloaded 5.6 percent stake (6 crore shares) of the lender through a block deal on April 30. The deal earned the promoters Rs 536.5 crore.
On the other hand, domestic investor SBI Mutual Fund along with Morgan Stanley Asia and Custody Bank of Japan, bought 3.8 crore shares of SBFC Finance through transactions worth Rs 330 crore. The deal was executed at an average price of Rs 88 per share, which was slightly lower than the floor price of Rs 89 at which the promoters offloaded their stake.
As per the lender's latest shareholding data, the entire promoter group held a 60.7 percent stake in the company, of which only a 5.5 percent stake is held by Indian promoters - Eight45 Services, Arpwood Capital, and Arpwood Partners Investment. Rest of the promoter group stake is owned by SBFC Holdings, which is classified as a foreign investor.
The promoters waited till the company's Q4 results announcement to unleash the block deal. The lender had reported its Q4 earnings on April 27, which saw its net profit surge around 74 percent on year to Rs 73 crore from Rs 42 crore a year ago.
Net interest income for the quarter gone by stood at Rs 169 crore, up 11.1 percent over last fiscal's Rs 152 crore.
The lender's asset quality deteriorated slightly as gross non-performing asset (GNPA) for Q4 rose to 2.43 percent, up from 2.38 percent in the previous quarter.
The net non-performing asset (NNPA) was at 1.36 percent, the same as in Q3.
In an interaction with CNBC-TV18 post its Q4 earnings, Aseem Dhru, MD & CEO of SBFC Finance stated that there will be pressure on net interest margins (NIMs) and non-performing assets in the financial sector. SBFC Finance too is bearing the brunt as the lender's cost of funds increased by 8 basis points (bps) in the March quarter.
However, he remained optimistic of bringing the cost down by 50 bps in FY25. “The cost of funding through banks may continue to get expensive,” said Dhru.
Shares of the non-bank finance lender made its debut on the bourses last August, listing at a premium of close to 44 percent over its IPO price. Since then, the stock has remained caught in a range, delivering only about six percent returns.
The stock also fell over five percent on April 30 following the block deals.
Also Read | SBFC Finance block deal: Equity worth Rs 534 crore changes hands as promoter likely offloads stake
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