Svatantra Holding Private limited acquires (SMPL) 100% stake in Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC) for approximately 300 cr. The acquisition helps Ms. Ananya Birla to expand her business and further the vision towards serving the financially excluded customer segment by offering differential banking solutions.

Commenting on the development, Ms. Ananya Birla, Founder and Chairperson of Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. and Co-Chairperson of ASSOCHAM Microfinance said, “We are elated to bring MHFC into Svatantra family. MHFC offers Svatantra a huge synergy by providing our clients with an opportunity to buy homes. We have tied up with builders in semi-urban areas and tell them about the flats that builders can offer, while providing the loan. Similar to Svatantra Microfin, MHFC is based on the tenets of entrepreneurship, transparency and innovation. Under the GoI initiative of Housing for all by 2022 combined with our continued focus to serve the underserved, I am sure we will create a valuable platform for future.”

Svatantra Microfin, the first venture of Ms. Birla, is a systemically important NBFC-MFI. In a short span of 6 years, SMPL has emerged as the most differentiated process and technology-driven microfinance entity, which offers micro-credit at the lowest rates in the country. SMPL today with a team of 1600 employees serves over 350,000 rural customers across 84 districts in 9 states with a loan book close to INR 750 cr.

MHFC vision is to help financially excluded (especially lower income informal sector) families own an independent home was incorporated in 2008. With an average loan size of INR 4 to 5 lakhs, MHFC serves over 14,500 customers and has a loan book of close to INR 500 cr. with a passionate team of about 200 employees.

“There is a complimentarily of vision, geographical presence and business strengths. The reach and infrastructure of microfinance coupled, credit assessment capabilities of affordable housing finance entity combined with an innovative IT platform will not only benefit our customer segment but also create significant value for all stakeholders,” added Mr. Vineet Chattree, Director Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. and MFIN. IIFL Corporate Advisory has been a sole advisor for the transaction.