Billionaire Kellner family weighs mortgage options

(Bloomberg) – The family of late Czech billionaire Petr Kellner is exploring options for consumer lender Home Credit, people familiar with the matter said, nearly two years after an initial public offering in Hong Kong was dropped.

The owners of Home Credit are in talks with advisers about options, including partnerships and selling stakes in certain deals, as they consider ways to raise cash and fuel business growth, people said.

The review is particularly focused on Southeast Asia and India and could lead to a transaction such as a sale of shares to a new partner, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Home Credit‘s businesses in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and India could be valued between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, they said.

The structure of any potential deal has not been decided, and there is no certainty that the deliberations will lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for the Kellner family’s investment firm, PPF Group NV, said he could not comment immediately.

PPF canceled a $1.5 billion share sale for Home Credit in November 2019, citing market conditions. Kellner died at the age of 56 in a helicopter crash last March.

Home Credit was founded in 1997 and is present in nine countries in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. After the fall of communism in the Czech Republic, Kellner forged PPF Group, a holding company whose interests span finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, media and biotechnology.

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