Can you tell me about the sale of shares in IIFL Finance by Fairfax group?

Fairfax Group, as you must be aware, is owned by the Canadian billionaire investor Prem Watsa. On Wednesday, 01 December, a fund owned by Fairfax sold 3.2% stake in IIFL Finance. The total value of the sale was Rs.365 crore and was entirely done via open market transactions. The seller was Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel (HWIC) Asia Fund selling a total of 121.65 lakh shares of IIFL Finance at Rs.300 per share valued at Rs.365 crore.

Close to 1 crore shares of IIFL Finance were picked up by Small Cap World Fund aggregating to Rs.300 crore. Even post this investment, funds of Fairfax group like HWIC Asia Fund holds 4.28% in IIFL Finance while FIH Mauritius Investments holds 22.32%. On the other hand, the Small Cap World Fund which already holds 1.61% stake in IIFL Finance, enhanced its stake to 4.24% in IIFL Finance.

Last year, IIFL had listed its 3 business units as separate companies on the bourses viz. IIFL Finance, IIFL Private Wealth Management and IIFL Securities. In addition, IIFL Finance also holds two specialized subsidiaries viz. IIFL Home Finance and Samasta Microfinance.

IIFL offers fund based lending and is active in home loans, gold loans, business loans, LAP, MSME financing, developer finance, and the funding of capital market activity including margin funding.