Citi-HDFC deal raises $1.95 bn, most shares bought by FIIs

Citigroup has raised $1.95 billion by selling its entire stake in Housing Development Finance Corp at Rs 657.50 a share, three sources with direct knowledge of the deal said on Friday.

The transaction is the largest share sale this year in India and comes close on the heels of investors such as Carlyle paring their stakes in Indian companies after a surge in share prices in 2012.

Itsoffer to sell its entire HDFC stakereceived bids for more than twice the number of shares. Most bids for the HDFC shares have come at around Rs 645 apiece, compared with its Thursday’s close price of Rs 701.30.

About 145 million shares changed hands on the exchanges, data showed with the HDFC stock falling as much as 6 percent in opening trade.

Confirming the news, chairman of HDFC, Keki Mistry told _CNBC-TV_18 that most of the shares in the block deal were picked up by foreign institutional investors. He added that only existing and long-only funds participated in this deal. Fund houses like Aberdeen and JPMorgan were among the key participants in the block deal, Mistry said.

Watch the interview with Mistry below:

With inputs from Reuters