SBI Cards block deal launched, Carlyle to sell entire stake

Carlyle, in 2017, had acquired 26 percent stake in SBI Cards from GE group for Rs 2,000 crore. (Representative image)

Private equity firm Carlyle Group will sell its entire stake in SBI Cards & Payments Services Ltd for as much as Rs 2,558 crore via block deal, according to deal terms seen by Moneycontrol on April 4.

CA Rover Holdings, a Carlyle entity, which, as of December 2021 quarter, held 29.20 million shares or 3.09% stake in SBI Cards, will sell its entire stake in the firm through the block trade.

The shares are being offered between Rs 851.50- Rs 876.75 apiece,  representing nearly 3% discount to the current market price, the Bloomberg report added.

Citigroup is the sole book running manager to the deal.

SBI Cards began operations in 1998 as a joint venture with GE Capital Corp. Carlyle, in 2017, had acquired 26 percent stake in SBI Cards from GE group for Rs 2,000 crore. It had also made a partial exit in the SBI Cards IPO that hit the market in March 2020. Since then the private equity firm has consistently reduced stake.

On Monday, SBI Cards closed at Rs 876.75 on BSE, up 0.66% against its previous close while India's benchmark Sensex rose 2.25% to 60,611.74 points.