Fresh capital in hand, Sammaan Capital to diversify loan book beyond mortgage

Mumbai: Fresh capital in hand after a change in ownership, Sammaan Capital, the erstwhile Indiabulls Housing Finance, is looking beyond mortgages to diversify its loan book and build a multi-product non-bank entity, according to managing director and chief executive officer Gagan Banga.“This is growth capital, we have clearly charted out a very detailed business plan, where we are trying to make it a customer-centric franchise, targeting 5 crore borrowers in the next three years and making this from a mortgage-focused to a multi-product NBFC,” Banga told Mint. He expects the company's assets under management (AUM) to double in three years to around ₹1.3 trillion.Abu Dhabi-based IHC has infused ₹5,652 crore for a 41.5% stake in Sammaan Capital, through its affiliate Avenir Investment RSC.

IHC has now become the promoter of the NBFC, which is set to receive another ₹3,198 crore over the next 18 months upon conversion of warrants into fully paid equity shares. Assuming full uptake in the open offer, IHC’s shareholding in the company will increase to 63.3%.Over the next three years, the first phase of the growth plan, the NBFC plans to venture into new product segments such as personal loans, gold loans and MSME loans.

Banga said all product lines will be “evaluated”.“We will look at every loaning product, and whichever in the context of where we are in the consumer credit cycle makes sense, we will pursue that,” Banga said, adding the company expects to take 24-36 months to gain scale on these new product lines.As these products gain scale and reach around 300 cities, the company will start allocating management bandwidth to phase two of the strategy. This includes getting into products that are “complementary to the entire