Carlyle exits HDFC stake for $841 m

Carlyle Group LP has raised $841 million in India's fourth largest equity deal this year by selling its remaining 3.7 per cent stake in the country's top mortgage lender, Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd (HDFC), said a source with direct knowledge of the deal.

The sale marks the US private equity firm's exit from HDFC after nearly doubling its original 2007 investment of $650 million with this latest sale and one in February that raised $270 million.

The HDFC share sale came after a slew of such transactions in the Indian market since the beginning of 2012 as investors took advantage of stock market gains to reduce their holdings or take profit out of their India portfolio companies.

Sensex performance

The Sensex is up nearly 23 per cent so far this year.

The index dropped nearly 25 per cent in 2011, making it one of the worst global performers and leaving few options for private equity firms to exit their portfolio companies through IPOs or block deals.

Carlyle sold 57 million HDFC shares at Rs 761.42 each, said the source, declining to be named as details of the deal have not yet been released. The sale price represents a discount of 3.5 per cent to HDFC's Thursday close.

Buyers of the HDFC shares included a clutch of overseas and Indian institutional investors, the source said, declining to give details.