SEBI Approves Five Star Business Finance IPO

Non-banking financial company Five Star Business Finance had received capital markets regulator Sebi’s go-ahead to raise funds through initial share-sales. It had filed their preliminary IPO documents with Sebi in September and obtained its “observations” letter during January 3-7.   The company is backed by bunch of investors like TPG, Matrix Partners, Norwest Ventures, Sequoia and KKR, who are looking to raise up to Rs 2,752 crore through an IPO which is entirely offer for sale.  The OFS will see sale of shares to the tune of Rs 257.10 crore by SCI Investments V, Rs 568.92 crore by Matrix Partners India Investment Holdings II LLC, Rs 9.56 crore by Matrix Partners India Investments II Extension LLC, Rs 385.65 crore by Norwest Venture Partners X- Mauritius, Rs 1,349.78 crore by TPG Asia VII SF Pte Ltd and Rs 180.93 crore by promoter group entities. Currently, TPG Asia holds 20.99 per cent stake, Matrix Partners owns over 14 per cent, Norwest Venture has 10.22 per cent stake and SCI Investments holds 8.83 per cent stake in the company. Chennai-headquartered Five Star Business Finance provides secured business loans to micro-entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals, each of whom are largely excluded by traditional financing institutions.