IPO-bound Tata Capital raises ₹1,500 crore via rights issue

Amid ongoing report that Tata Capital is expediting the process to launch its initial public offering (IPO), the financial services arm of the Tata group has reportedly raised ₹1,500 crore via a rights issue. Tata Sons, which holds 93% shares in the company, along with other small shareholders, including IFC, have subscribed to the issue.

The development came amid report that Tata Capital is looking to go public with a mega IPO issue size of around ₹15,000 crore, which will be combined of fresh equities and offer for sale (OFS) by promoters. The company has reportedly finalised as many as 10 investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, JP Morgan, Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, HSBC Securities, IIFL Capital, BNP Paribas, SBI Capital and HDFC Bank, for the IPO.

The report suggests that Tata Capital may file the draft papers with the capital market regulator by March end or early April via the confidential pre-filing route.

Tata Capital’s IPO is being seen as a move to comply with Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) norms for 'upper layer' NBFCs. Tata Capital was notified as an upper-layer NBFC in September 2022, which makes it mandatory to list itself on the exchanges within three years of notification. The deadline for the same is September 2025. 

Tata Capital is a non-banking financial services (NBFC) company and a subsidiary of the group's holding company Tata Sons. As per the shareholding pattern of Tata Capital, Tata Sons directly own 92.83% stake in the company and the remaining stake is owned by the other Tata group companies and trusts as on March 31, 2024. On the other hand, Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals own 3% each in Tata Sons, which is mostly owned by Dorabji Tata Trust (28%) and the Ratan Tata Trust (24%). Among others, Tata Power and Indian Hotels hold 2% and 1%, respectively, in the holding company, while Cyrus Mistry family-led Sterling Investment Corporation and Cyrus Investments own 9% each in Tata Sons.

Earlier this year, the NBFC raised $400 million through its maiden issuance from international bond markets, maturing in 3.5 years for investors in Asia and Europe. The company says it will pay an interest of 5.38% on the dollar-denominated bonds.

In October last year, the central bank approved the merger of Tata Capital with Tata Motors Finance (TMFL), paving the way for the formation of India’s 12th largest NBFC. As of March 31, 2024, Tata Capital had sizeable AUM of ₹158,479 crore as compared to ₹119,950 crore as on March 31, 2023, and ₹94,349 crore as on March 31, 2022.