PNB Housing Finance Plunges 5% To Hit Lower Circuit After Scrapping Carlyle Deal

New Delhi: Shares of PNB Housing Finance dived as much as 5 per cent on Monday to hit the lower circuit limit after the mortgage lender called off fund-raising deal with a group of investors, led by private-equity firm Carlyle Group. Lower circuit is the minimum price to which a stock can fall in a single trading day.

PNB Housing, in a notification to the exchanges on Thursday, informed that it has decided not to proceed with the deal after the plan was delayed due to pending legal proceedings.

The mortgage lender said that it has ended the deal -- announced in May to issue shares worth Rs 4,000 crore to Carlyle-led investors -- after a long legal battle with India's markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

"There continues to be no visibility or certainty as to the timeline for judicial determination of the legal issues," PNB Housing has said.

Pluto Investments, a Carlyle Group entity, will now begin the proceedings to withdraw the open offer made by them, it added.

The deal had been challenged by the SEBI following an institutional investment advisory firm's statement that it was unfair to minority shareholders.

The regulator had asked the company to stall it until it undertook an independent valuation.

PNB Housing Finance had challenged SEBI's order by approaching India's Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). SAT in August delivered a split verdict, restricting the company from disclosing the results of shareholder votes on the deal.

PNB Housing Finance's stock had more than doubled after the deal was announced in May this year. Currently, the stock has plunged Rs 31.95 to Rs 607.10.