Unity SFB leads Aviom India Housing race with Rs 775-cr bid

MUMBAI: Unity Small Finance Bank has emerged as the front-runner for impact investor-backed Aviom India Housing Finance, offering upfront cash payment of Rs 775 crore, multiple people with knowledge of the matter told ET.

Authum Investment and Infrastructure, Northern Arc, DMI Housing, Kifs Housing Finance and Omkara Asset Reconstruction Company are among others in fray for the asset, said the people cited above.

Authum has given an offer of Rs 750 crore, which includes Rs 450 upfront and remaining staggered over two years, while Northern Arc has offered Rs 625 crore, of which Rs 325 crore is upfront and the remaining will be paid in two years, said the people cited above.

DMI Housing has given a Rs 400 crore upfront payment plan while Omkara and Kiffs gave offers of Rs 450 crore and Rs 325 crore, respectively.

“There is enormous interest among bidders partly because the entire loan book is secured. There is `300 crore cash in the company and bad loans are fully provided,” said a senior official advising one of the bidders.

Impact investing pertains to financing assets or entities for helping achieve tangible social goals, besides the obvious business case for returns on capital employed.


Unity SFB, Authum, Northern Arc, DMI Housing, Kifs, Omkara ARC and the RP did not respond to ET’s request for comments. In recent months, there is huge interest for housing finance companies among private equity investors, enhancing Aviom’s appeal.

For instance, Blackstone has acquired a 80% stake in Aadhar Housing Finance, Warburg Pincus picked 84% stake in Shriram Housing Finance and TPG Global affiliate has acquired Griham Housing Finance (earlier Poonawala Housing Finance).

“Given the interest in the sector, there is a likelihood that bids could cross four-digit figures,” he said. Some investors who missed expressions of interest (EoI) deadline are keen to bid for the company,” the senior official cited above said. The RP received 18 compliant EoIs of which six gave resolution plans.

The Reserve Bank of India appointed resolution professional Ram Kumar, former general manager at Punjab National Bank, will soon hold challenge auction among resolution applicants to identify the winning bidders.

Unity SFB is 51% owned by Centrum Financial Services and 49% is held by BharatPe’s parent Resilient Innovations. Unity, which was amalgamated with PMC bank after the cooperative bank collapsed, has a net loan book of Rs 10,985 crore.

Kajal Ilmi-founded Aviom India Housing Finance’s downfall began with auditors pointing out certain discrepancies in the books. This was followed by National Housing Bank (NHB) probes. The NHB revealed inflated investments in mutual funds to show higher cash balances. ET was the first to report these developments on November 26 and November 28, 2024, respectively.

The RBI admitted the company to corporate resolution under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in February this year after the affordable housing finance company started defaulting on loans.

Aviom has a loan book of Rs 1,500 crore and cash balances of over Rs 300 crore. The RP has admitted 60 claims amounting to Rs 1,363 crore. LIC Housing finance has the highest claim amounting to 7.2% while others with less than 3% include HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Investments and Tata Capital.