JM Financial, Indostar in talks to merge mortgage businesses

Non-bank lenders JM Financial and Indostar on Monday announced that they are in "preliminary discussions" to merge their respective mortgage verticals into a single entity. The entity created with the merging of the retail mortgage portfolio of JM Financial Home Loans and mortgage-backed portfolio of Indostar Home Finance may also be listed, as per an official statement.
"JM Financial has a long-term strategic interest in the home loan and such mortgage-backed businesses and looks forward to scaling these businesses to the next phase of its growth," the statement said.

It, however, made it clear that the discussions which are underway are non-binding in nature.

A transaction concerning JM Financial and Indostar will be subject to "satisfactory due diligence, negotiation of commercial terms, execution of definitive agreements and receipt of all relevant regulatory and other approvals," it added.

The statement did not reveal any further information like the timelines by which the discussions will be ending, the quantum of the portfolios of both the companies, valuations or any other details on the deal.

JM Financial has interests in a host of businesses in the financial services industry which include investment banking, institutional equities, trading, research and broking, wealth management, equity broking, portfolio management, asset management and commodity broking besides the non-bank lending, of which the housing finance is part of.

Indostar is a diversified financier engaged in vehicle finance, home finance, small business loans and corporate lending.

The Indostar Capital Finance scrip closed 0.31 per cent down at Rs 129.10 a piece and JM Financial gained 0.10 per cent to close at Rs 60.97 a piece on the BSE on Monday, as against the gain of 0.67 per cent on the benchmark.