Aditya Birla Finance to raise R3k cr via debentures

Aditya Birla Finance (ABFL) plans to raise up to R3,000 crore though non-convertible debentures for business in project finance, mortgage and corporate sector.

The company’s loan book grew by 50 per cent in the year-ended March to R17,588 crore from R11,735 crore on March 2014. The portfolio grew by 45 per cent in FY14 from a base of R8,058 crore in March 2013.

According to rating agency ICRA, despite the robust growth in portfolio of 50 per cent in FY15, Aditya Birla Finance maintained adequate capitalisation on equity infusion from the parent.

Rakesh Singh, chief executive of ABFL, said sustaining growth at the same pace as last year on a larger balance sheet was challenging. But there are several opportunities within the current business environment.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises finance presents huge opportunities. There is also scope to growth further by penetrating deeper inthe existing customer segments and locations,” he said.

ICRA has assigned a rating of “AA+” to debentures. The rating factors in capital adequacy of 16.94 per cent (tier I: 13.98 per cent) at end-March, and the increased diversification in its lending book.

At the end of March, the mortgage book contributed about 29 per cent (17 per cent in FY13), the capital market group contributed 24 per cent (34 per cent in FY13) and corporate finance 23 per cent (20 per cent in FY13.

The project and structured finance had close to 23 per cent share and other advances of one per cent as on March 2015.