CreditAccess Grameen IPO review (May apply)

• Focusing on rural micro financing for women.
• No plans to opt for banking services
• FY17 setback was due to demonetization
• Soon to be leader in Micro finance segment
• Issue is fully priced, may be considered for long term.
  
  

About Company
CreditAccess Grameen Ltd. (CAGL) is a leading Indian micro-finance institution headquartered in Bangalore, focused on providing micro-loans to women customers predominantly in Rural Areas in India. According to CRISIL Research, CAGL is the third largest NBFC-MFI in India in terms of gross loan portfolio as of March 31, 2017. Company's wide range of lending products addresses the critical needs of its Customers throughout their life cycle and includes income generation, family welfare, home improvement and emergency loans.

It focuses predominantly on Customers in Rural Areas in India, who largely lack access to the formal banking sector and present a latent opportunity for offering micro-loans. Company's focus customer segment is women having an annual household income of Rs. 160,000 or less in Urban Areas and Rs. 100,000 or less in Rural Areas. It provides loans primarily under the joint liability group ('JLG') model.

CAGL's primary focus is to provide income generation loans to Customers, which comprised 87.02% of its total JLG loan portfolio, as of March 31, 2018. Company also provides other categories of loans such as family welfare loans, home improvement loans and emergency loans to existing Customers. In 2016, with a view to diversifying its product profile, CAGL introduced individual retail finance loans for customers who had been its Customers for at least three years and fulfill certain other eligibility criteria linked primarily to their credit history with the company, income, and business position.

Company has followed a strategy of contiguous district-based expansion across regions and, as of March 31, 2018, it covered 132 districts in the eight states (Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Goa) and one union territory (Puducherry) in India through 516 branches and 4,544 loan officers.

CAGL's operations are well –diversified at the district level, with no single district contributing more than 5% to its Gross AUM (apart from one which contributed less than 6% to Gross AUM) as of March 31, 2018. Further, out of a total of 132 districts where it had branches as of March 31, 2018, more than 75% of each of these districts individually represents less than 1% of gross AUM. Company's customer base increased from 0.50 million Active Customers as of March 31, 2014 to 1.85 million Active Customers as of March 31, 2018. According to management, as Bharat Finance is getting merged with IndusInd Bank, CAGL will be the Numero Uno in micro finance segment very soon.

Capital History & Issue Structure
For listing gains and augmenting its future capital requirements, CAGL is coming out with a maiden IPO of fresh equity issue (FV of Rs. 10 each) worth Rs. 630 crore (approx. 14928910 shares at upper price band) and offer for sale of 11876485 shares by existing stakeholders via book building route. It has fixed a price band of Rs. 418 – Rs. 422 per share. Issue opens for subscription on 08.08.18 and will close on 10.08.18. CAGL hopes to mobilize Rs. 1131.19 crore at the upper price band. Minimum application is to be made for 35 shares and in multiples thereon, thereafter. Post allotment shares will be listed on BSE and NSE. The average cost of acquisition of shares by the selling shareholder is Rs. 102.19 per share. Issue constitutes around 18.70% of post issue equity. Having issued initial equity at par, it raised further equity in the price range of Rs. 19.11 to Rs. 154 per share between November 2008 and March 2018. Its current paid up equity capital of Rs. 128.43 cr. will stand enhanced to Rs. 143.36 cr. (approx) post issue. BRLMs to this issue are ICICI Securities Ltd., Credit Suisse Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd., IIFL Holdings Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Capital Ltd. Karvy Computershare Pvt. Ltd. is the registrar to the issue.

Financial Performance
On performance front, for last four fiscals, CAGL has posted total revenue/net profits of Rs. 281.43 cr. / Rs. 48.73 cr. (FY15), Rs. 466.72 cr. / Rs. 83.24 cr. (FY16), Rs. 709.26 cr. / Rs. 80.30 cr. (FY17) and Rs. 875.21 cr. / Rs. 124.64 cr. (FY18). Despite growth in top line, it suffered a setback in bottom line for FY17 that is attributed to demonatization. For last three fiscals, it has posted an average EPS of Rs. 11.22 and an average 11.26%. As per offer document, CAGL is issuing shares at a P/BV of 3.80 against peers group P/BV of 3.56 (as on 12.07.18 on FY18 financial data). Based on FY 18 earnings attribution on post issue equity, asking price is at a P/E of around 48 plus against industry average of 101. Its Gross NPA stood at 1.97% and net NPA at 0% as on 31.03.18. Its debt ratio is at 2.52 as on said date.

Listed peers comparision
It has shown Bharat Financial, Satin Creditcare, AU Small Finance, Ujjivan Financial, Equitas Holdings, Shriram Transport Fin., M&M Financial as its listed peers that are currently trading around 27,00,64,NA,152,21 and 31 P/Es (as on 01.08.18 closing). All these companies are not strictly comparable with the business model of CAGL.

BRLM's track record
On BRLM's front, four merchant bankers associated with the offer have handled 50 public issues in the past three financial years out of which 16 public issues closed below the issue price on listing date.