Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C)’s Indian division has sold 5 billion rupees, or about $107 million, worth of mortgages to Religare Enterprises Ltd., an Indian financial-services firm owned by billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh, according to a report from Business Week.
The acquisition, made through the company’s Religare Finvest Ltd unit, will likely be completed in a month, the report said. Citibank India has a total loan book of about 400 billion rupees, or about $8.5 billion, and more than 90 billion rupees worth of mortgages, said Abhijit Sen, chief financial officer of Citigroup’s South Asia unit.
“Our treasury unit periodically looks at small tranches of portfolio sale to deploy liquidity in fresh assets and optimize return on capital,” Sen said in a telephone interview with Business Week. “Mortgages is a core and priority business for us and we continue to originate such assets.”
Shares of Religare Enterprises traded up 1.35% on July 15th, closing at $415.45.
Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) is a diversified financial services company. The Company offers a suite of financial products and services across the retail, institutional and high-net-worth spectrum. The Company offers a range of products and services, including equity and commodity broking, personal financial services, personal credit, online trading, wealth advisory services, portfolio management services, priority client equity services, arts initiative, international advisory, fund management services, including film fund management and asset management, insurance broking, life insurance, investment banking and institutional broking. The Company operates through its 14 operating subsidiaries in India, 23 subsidiaries abroad and three joint ventures in India. On December 4, 2008, REL acquired Religare Asset Management Company (P) Limited. In April 2009, the Company acquired 24% interest from Vistaar Entertainment Ventures Pvt. Ltd of Vistaar Religare Capital Advisors Ltd
