Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG) will acquire 74.9 per cent stake in Fullerton India Credit Company Limited (FICC) for about $2 billion.

The stake is being acquired from Singapore-based Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd (FFH) and is subject to regulatory approvals. SMFG will eventually acquire 100 per cent of FICC.

FICC is a diversified NBFC registered in India and a wholly-owned subsidiary of FFH. FICC started its India operations in 2007 and has established presence across 600 towns and over 58,000 villages through 629 branches and 13,000-plus employees offering loan products to 2.3 million bankable yet under-served retail and small business borrowers.

The deal also includes FICC subsidiary, Fullerton India Housing Finance Company Ltd., which has over 23,000 customers across India and operates in 70 locations with 650-plus employees.

“This investment brings together SMFG’s Asian push towards consumer and MSME lending, with FICC’s expertise in serving mass-market and MSME customers in India. The transaction reaffirms the strength of FICC’s platform underpinned by best-in-class corporate governance, risk management, prudent liquidity management, agile technology, and advanced analytics,” said a press statement from Fullerton

Jun Ohta, President & Group CEO of SMFG, said, “India is one of our focus markets where we believe in its high growth potential and want to build a deeper presence. As a long-term investor, we believe that the FICC platform’s innate strengths of multi-product focus, pan-India distribution, and strong management will enable us to build a comprehensive financial service offering in India.”

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. is listed on the Tokyo and New York (via ADR) Stock Exchanges and has a market capitalisation of approximately $47.4 billion (as of June 30, 2021).

Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte. Ltd. is a wholly-owned independent portfolio company of Singapore-headquartered investment company, Temasek.

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