Business Wire IndiaAION Capital Partners Limited (the “AION Fund”), along with Pramod Bhasin, Founder of Genpact & former CEO of GE Capital India & Asia and Anil Chawla, former head of GE Capital's Commercial business and DE Shaw India, today announced closure of the deal to acquire the commercial lending and leasing business of GE Capital in India, with approximately $360 million of net worth. The terms of the transaction were not revealed. The joint statement was made at a media event held in New Delhi.
These partners have come together to acquire these businesses with a vision of building a leading diversified financial services company in India.
The partners commented – “India is currently poised for strong GDP growth, probably the strongest in the world, driven by key initiatives across many different sectors. In addition, there have been significant developments in the current environment that will drive tremendous change particularly in the financial services market. The current “India Stack” of Aadhar coupled with mobile accessibility as well as the substantial increase in financial inclusion via the opening of millions of new bank accounts will bring a significant number of new people into the financial marketplace. India’s growth rate will also drive increasing demand for financial products amongst the small and medium scale enterprises across smaller towns in India, which is where a substantial portion of the growth will come from. These segments are currently underserved and we hope to leverage these key platforms to build our business. There is no better time for these businesses in India than today.”
Pramod Bhasin also added, “The GE Capital businesses have a rich legacy of financial products and services, coupled with a highly experienced management team with the best traditions of GE. We have an opportunity to combine the best of this legacy with new analytical capabilities and technologies to provide excellent customer service with exceptional speed and customization. Analytics will be used across the board for risk management, effective marketing and sales as well as for distribution strategies. Today’s technologies also provide unprecedented access to people and data and we expect to build out new platforms as well as web based and mobile capabilities to provide enormous flexibility to our customers. We will also use my prior experience at Genpact to build cutting edge, lean, digitized processes that can deliver highly efficient results at very cost effective levels. We are deeply familiar with these businesses having started them in 1993 from scratch.”
“We see vast opportunity for financial services growth in India, especially with the Government’s push towards a policy for financial inclusion across the country’s population and financial sector reforms. We intend to expand the current team and pursue a strategy of stability and prudent growth for the new business,” said Parth Gandhi, senior partner at AION India Investment Advisors Private Limited (“AION India”), who will also be a member of the board of the newly formed company and provide key strategic inputs to the management.
“AION Capital will be a terrific partner for the long term as we grow and expand these businesses. We are looking at a pan India presence with a steady growth and expansion for these businesses without losing sight of the right acquisition opportunities to grow in-organically and plan to invest in businesses that are a strategic fit for our vision in India,” said Anil Chawla, who will be actively involved in guiding the newly formed entity. Anil will bring his deep experience of the Capital Markets and Commercial Finance as well as M&A to the company.
“This transaction is in line with our global strategy as we continue to reduce the size of GE Capital. We wish our employees in these entities in India the very best for the future,” said Banmali Agrawala, President & CEO, GE South Asia.
Started in 1993, GE Capital’s non-bank finance company (NBFC) operations in India has served more than 10 million corporate and consumer finance customers. The business has a rich legacy and excellent ability to service customers today in three key verticals -- auto, healthcare (medical equipment) and corporate loans. The new company will build on the legacy with the use of analytics, technology platforms and a great management organization to differentiate itself across all segments.
About AION
“The AION Fund is an India-focused fund established by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, LLC together with ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Limited. The AION Fund, with approximately US$825 million in committed capital, is currently one of the largest private equity funds in India. AION India is the adviser to the AION Fund.”
About Pramod Bhasin & Anil Chawla
Pramod was formerly the President & CEO of GE Capital India and Asia, having established the GE Capital businesses in India in 1993. He was also the Founder & CEO of Genpact which pioneered the BPO industry in India and is listed on the NYSE. Anil Chawla was previously the Head of GE’s Commercial Finance business for India & South East Asia and Growth Leader for GE India as well as the Head of DE Shaw in India.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com
Photo Caption: Shekhar Daga, Partner at AION India Investment Advisors, Parth Gandhi, Senior Partner at AION India Investment Advisors, Pramod Bhasin, Founder of Genpact & Former CEO of GE Capital India & Asia and Anil Chawla, Former Head of GE Capital’s Commercial Business & DE Shaw India announce their partnership to acquire GE Commercials Lending and Leasing business in India in New Delhi today.
