Temasek buys majority stake in bike financier

The investment arm of the government of Singapore has become a majority shareholder in India’s Dove Finance, a non-banking financial company.

Temasek has acquired a majority stake in Dove Finance. Indian media reports said the size of the stake was 80 percent, though this has not been officially confirmed.

Formed in 1994, Chennai-headquartered Dove Finance focuses on lending money to people buying motorbikes. Aside from Chennai, Dove has operations in Coimbatore, Madurai, Nagercoil, Tirunelveli and Trichy.

“We made the investment as we believe in India’s growth potential and the SME & consumer finance sector is a good proxy for us to participate in India’s growth,” a Temasek spokeswoman told PEO.

Temasek has invested over $1.5 billion in India. Its portfolio includes: ICICI Bank; drug maker Matrix Laboratories; construction firm, Punj Lloyd; tractor and utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra; Tata Consultancy Services; and Welspun Industries.

Recent media reports have indicated Temasek’s interest in acquiring a nearly 10 percent stake offered by India’s second-largest provider of CDMA-based mobile telephone services, Tata Teleservices. Temasek, however, has not commented on this.