Half a dozen foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are eager to pick up Citigroup’s 11.74 per cent stake in Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) should the US financial services giant want to sell its holding.
Citigroup, which has been involved in a massive cost cutting exercise, has recently sold some of its non-core investments and this has sparked speculation that it may sell its stake in HDFC.
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh told reporters after the annual general meeting here today that the sense he got after discussions with Citigroup officials was that the US giant would hold on to its stake.
But if it decided to sell, Parekh said there were “enough buyers” who were ready to pick up the stake.
Parekh added that after reports surfaced that Citigroup might be looking to sell its stake in HDFC, at least six FIIs had approached him evincing interest. At current prices, the stake could be valued at Rs 6,000 crore. Citigroup became a shareholder in HDFC in 2006.
Parekh indicated that the corporation would wait for signals from the Reserve Bank of India before raising interest rates. However, he maintained that despite high interest rates, HDFC was confident of notching up 25 per cent growth in disbursements during the current financial year.
The largest housing finance company reported a profit after tax at Rs 468.11 crore compared with Rs 372.81 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, a growth rate of 26 per cent.
Source: The Telegraph