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Caledonia Invests in Indian Home Finance Company
Caledonia Invests in Indian Home Finance Company.
About this update from Caledonia Investments Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 4168E Caledonia Investments PLC 06 April 2011 \n \n\nCaledonia Investments plc\n \n \nCaledonia invests £20.6m in Deutsche Postbank Home Finance Ltd\n \n \nThe Board of Caledonia Investments plc (\"Caledonia\") is pleased to announce that the Caledonia group has invested £20.6m in cash to acquire a 13.9% stake in the Indian home finance company, Deutsche Postbank Home Finance Ltd (\"DPHFL\"). The investment has been made to support the expansion of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (\"DHFL\") which, together with its promoter group, has acquired the balance of DPHFL's equity. Caledonia has been a shareholder in DHFL, which is one of India's leading private sector housing finance companies and is listed on the Indian stock exchanges, since 2005 and currently has a 9.6% shareholding together with board representation.\n \nDPHFL was sold by BHW Holding AG, a 100% subsidiary of Deutsche Postbank AG, and was valued for the purposes of the transaction at Rs. 10,790m (approximately £148m). Following the acquisition, DHFL's combined asset base will exceed Rs. 200,000m (approximately £2.8bn) with an active customer base expected to be over 200,000 strong by the end of its current financial year. \n \nFollowing the acquisition, DHFL and its housing finance subsidiaries will, on a consolidated basis, be the third largest private sector home finance business in the Indian marketplace and will be well placed to address each of the many market segments within the Indian mortgage sector.\n \nCommenting on the acquisition, Tony Hambro, who represents Caledonia on the Board of DHFL, said:\n \n \"Caledonia has been an investor in DHFL since March 2005. We have been impressed by its capabilities and the growth platform that DHFL has created. We continue to be keenly interested in the Indian housing finance sector and are happy to be a co-investor alongside DHFL and its promoters, the Wadhawan family, in this transformational deal for DHFL.\"\n \nKapil Wadhawan, Chairman and Managing Director of DHFL, stated: \n \n\"The acquisition of DPHFL will offer DHFL the perfect opportunity to round out its range of services and strengthen its market position. Caledonia has been a valued long term investor in DHFL and has proven to be an extremely helpful and suppor...