Equitas Holdings sells entire stake in Equitas Tech

NEW DELHI: Equitas Holdings Ltd has divested its entire shareholding in Equitas Technologies Pvt Ltd (ETPL) as part of the regulatory requirement to complete the amalgamation involving its subsidiary Equitas Small Finance Bank.

Equitas Holdings is the promoter of Equitas Small Finance Bank (ESFB).

Under the scheme of amalgamation between ESFB and Equitas Holdings, all the assets held by the promoter, including its investments in ETPL, have to be transferred to and vested in ESFB.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Equitas Holdings said it has completed the sale of its entire shareholding in ETPL on July 5, thereby complying with the condition stipulated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The company said the divestment follows RBI's no objection letter dated May 6, 2022 for amalgamation of the company with ESFB wherein it was asked to divest entire shareholding in ETPL.

RBI approved the merger between the promoter and the SFB subsidiary in July last year.

''... ETPL has ceased to be the subsidiary of the company,'' Equitas Holdings said.

The company said it has received Rs 6.47 crore till date for the stake sale ETPL to Goldstone Technologies Ltd (GTL).

''GTL is under an obligation to pay to Equitas Holdings the balance and remaining purchase consideration of Rs 1,50,00,000 within a period of six months from today i.e. July 5, 2022,'' it said.

GTL is a business intelligence and IT services company.

As per RBI norms for small finance banks, it is mandatory for the promoter of a small finance bank to reduce the stake in the subsidiary to 40 per cent within five years of commencement of operations of the small finance bank.

ESFB commenced operations from September 2016.

As of March 31, 2022, Equitas held 74.59 per cent stake in ESFB, according to data on BSE.

Shares of Equitas Holdings ended 3.83 per cent higher at Rs 86.80 apiece while that of ESFB closed flat at Rs 39.20 apiece on BSE.