Shriram Finance expects MUFG transaction likely to finalised around March-April

We would want the MUFG transaction to be finalised by April-March next year, Parag Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer at Shriram Finance told The Hindu in response to a query about the timeline for completion of the transaction. “We would ideally want the transaction to be completed around March-April next year,” he stated, adding, “We would be calling for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) for [seeking] shareholders’ approval around the middle of January.”

Mr. Sharma informed that the transaction would require approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He exuded confidence about receiving approval from the apex banking regulator considering their positive push in the non-banking financial services space.

In a deal suggested to be the largest foreign direct investment in a financial services company in India, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) informed Monday that their board of directors approved acquiring an investment of ₹39,618 crore from Japanese financial services provider MUFG in return for a 20% stake in the Chennai-headquartered company. The deal would be facilitated through a preferential issuance of equity shares.

Further, responding to a query about MUFG potentially increasing their stake in the Chennai-headquartered company, Yasushi Itagaki, Group Head of the Global Commercial Banking Business Group at MUFG said they were happy with their present status as the “significant minority shareholder”.