Centrum group pays Rs 100 cr for Altura Financial's MFI book

As part of expanding its microfinance business, the Centrum Group has acquired Altura Financial Services' microcredit portfolio for a reported Rs 100 crore through a slump sale. The acquisition is been done by Centrum's microfinance arm Centrum Microcredit, the Jaspal Bindra-run company said in a statement on Monday without disclosing the value of the transaction.

However, a source said Centrum would pay Rs 100 crore to takeover the loan portfolio. The New Delhi-based Altura Financial has a loan book of Rs 90 crore and the deal involves taking the business along with the employees.

The microloan company has over 45,000 customers, served by 225 employees across 48 branches in Rajasthan, Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha, Haryana and Chhattisgarh. "The deal with Altura gives us ready access to four new states, helping us diversify our operations to nine states. It also supports us to expand our offerings in terms of tenure, repayment model and end-use of loans," Centrum Microcredit chairman Ranjan Ghosh said.

With this deal, the microloan book of Centrum Microcredit jumps to around Rs 400 crore with 126 branches, servicing 2 lakh customers. According to the agreement, Centrum Microcredit will acquire the entire portfolio, branch network and retain all employees of Altura, its managing director, Daksha Shah said.

The Centrum group, which is into equity brokering, travel, and financial and IPO advisory among others, entered the micro finance business late 2017 by acquiring the Rs 110- crore microfinance portfolio of the South African lender FirstRand Bank India..