Manappuram Finance Ltd, one of India’s leading gold loan NBFCs, has come out with a Rs 1,000-crore NCD issue. The tranche 1 of the issue opened for subscription on 24th October and is scheduled to close on November 22, 2018 with an option of early closure or extension as decided by the Board of Directors of the company or the Debenture Committee of the company, as the case may be. The base issue size of the tranche 1 issue is Rs 200 crore with an option to retain oversubscription up to Rs 800 crore aggregating up to the shelf limit.
According to the company, these are secured NCDs which are available in 10 options, and interest rates vary between 9.6% and 10.4%. The face value of the NCD bond is Rs 1,000. The minimum application amount is Rs 10,000 collectively across all Series on NCDs and in multiples of one NCD of face value of Rs 1000 each after the minimum application.
These NCDs are rated as CARE AA/Stable by CARE Ratings and BWR AA+ Stable by Brickwork Ratings India Private Ltd. A. K. Capital Services Ltd and Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd are the lead managers of the issue.
It may be noted that Manappuram Finance is one of the major NBFC players in the gold finance business in India. Manappuram provides loans against the pledge of household and/or used gold jewellery and provides short-term personal and business gold loans primarily to retail customers who require immediate availability of funds, but who do not have access to formal credit on an immediate basis.
Their gold loan portfolio as of March 31, 2018 comprised approximately 2.25 million customers aggregating a principal amount of Rs 117,349.82 million in gold loans, which accounted for 76.21% of total loans on a consolidated basis. As of June 30, 2018, Manappuram disbursed gold loans to customers from a network of 3,331 branches of the company in 28 states and union territories of India, including 2,236 branches in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Should you invest in this issue?
Financial experts say that NCD issues offer higher rates than bank fixed deposits. Additionally, compared to company deposits, they have the advantage of liquidity as they are usually listed on the exchanges. Investors can allocate a small part of their savings to these deposits.
“It will be best to buy the NCDs of only the best, well-managed companies which have a track record of never defaulting on their liabilities. Moreover, in the current circumstances, NBFCs are going through a stressful period and hence one needs to be extra cautious while putting money in any debt issue of an NBFC. In this context, the current NCD issue of Manappuram Finance needs to be carefully examined,” says Ashish Kapur, CEO, Invest Shoppe India Ltd.
The advantage of this company is that it has a long track record of stable growth and good quality of assets. “Nevertheless being an NBFC, some caution will still be advised. Hence, investors can put in a small portion (not more than 15%) of their fixed return allocation to these NCDs,” advises Kapur.
