NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the proposed Rs 4,000-crore equity investment by Carlyle Group-led investors in PNB Housing Finance even as the Securities and Appellate Tribunal (SAT) is yet to pronounce its judgement on the deal.
On Wednesday, the competition watchdog said that the transaction has been cleared under the green channel facility, as per which, a proposed deal that does not cause substantial adverse effect on competition under the competition law is deemed to be approved, on it being intimated to the regulator.
CCI said it received a notice on the acquisition of equity stake in PNB Housing Finance from the two investors involving Carlyle Group-controlled Pluto Investments S.a.r.l and Salisbury Investments (Aditya Puri’s family investment vehicle) acquiring up to 56.29% stake in the mortgage lender.
The development comes at the time when the deal is in limbo with the SAT weighing objections raised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to the transaction. The regulator has asked PNB Housing not to go ahead with the deal until it undertook the valuation of its shares by an independent agency. If the deal goes through, Carlyle will become the majority shareholder replacing PNB as the principal promoter.