Warburg sells 4.2% in IDFC First Bank; GQG picks up 2.6% in lender

Cloverdell Investment, an affiliate of private equity major Warburg Pincus, sold 4.2 per cent in IDFC First Bank on Friday. As of June 2023, Cloverdell had a 7.12 per cent stake in IDFC First Bank. The PE major sold nearly 278.7 billion shares at Rs 89 apiece to mop-up Rs 2,480 crore. US-based GQG Partners shares worth Rs 1,527 crore, constituting a 2.6 per cent stake, data showed.

Shares of IDFC First Bank last closed at Rs 93.44, up 0.11 per cent. The US-based investment firm has been in the news this year for its consistent investments in the Adani group stocks. In March, GQG bought a stake worth $1.87 billion in the Adani group-listed companies from the promoters. They added another $500 million in May and acquired a further $1 billion of Adani stocks in June. Besides Adani Group, GQG has also invested in Patanjali Foods.

 

On Friday, shares of IDFC First Bank  fell by as much as 5 percent in early trading but recovered to end little changed. In August, the private sector bank had reported profit after tax of Rs 770 crore in the first quarter of FY24. The strong earnings have backed by healthy loan growth, rob­ust fees and contained credit cost.