Multiples invests $35m in Indian NBFC

APAC founder Gunit Chadha and members of the management team invested an additional INR1.5 billion, according to a Livemint report posted to the NBFC’s LinkedIn page. The transaction will give Multiples a 37% stake in APAC, and Nithya Easwaran, a managing director at the GP, will join the company’s board.

Chadha founded APAC after leaving Deutsche Bank, where he headed Asia Pacific operations. The NBFC began operations in June, focused on loans for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and affordable housing. Chadha hopes to build APAC into a multi-platform financial services player that can serve a wide range of markets.

APAC is hoping its experienced leadership will give it an edge as India’s NBFCs face ongoing issues with liquidity, with the country’s banks reluctant to lend to them following defaults on short-term loans by some institutions and the bankruptcy of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Service (IL&FS) earlier this year. The government, which sees NBFCs as an important link between the traditional finance industry and India’s underserved MSMEs, has pushed the Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India to help stabilize the industry in recent months.

Multiples’ investments in the financial services sector include Vastu Housing Finance, which it incubated and launched last year, along with RBL Bank and Sanctum Wealth Management. The firm is currently investing its second fund, which closed in 2016 at $690 million, and is reportedly targeting $750 million for its third vehicle.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Expansion
• India
• Multiples Alternative Asset Management
• NBFCs
• Financial Services