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Kerala-based gold loan non-banking finance company ICL Fincorp is hopeful of getting listed in the next 15 months. The company became eligible to be listed under the reverse merger mechanism after it acquired a 74.27 per cent stake in Kolkata-based listed NBFC player Salem Erode Investments. The reverse merger process helps an unlisted company to bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public.

“We have already received approvals from SEBI and RBI Chennai and Kolkata for the merger, and we expect all required formalities for listing to be completed in another 15 months,” KG Anil Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, ICL Fincorp, told BusinessLine .

ICL Fincorp has also issued an open offer to acquire 25.73 per cent of the public holding in Salem Erode Investments. The Trichur-headquartered NBFC currently has 157 branches across all the five States of South India, and is looking to expand its geographical footprint across India with 1,000 new branches by 2022.

“In Tamil Nadu, we currently have 28 branches, and we will increase this number to 100 in the next two years,” said Kumar.

The NBFC’s assets under management (AUM) stood at around ₹200 crore during the previous fiscal, of which 91 per cent came from the gold loan portfolio. The company also offers a small portion of business loans, personal loans and automobile loans.

ICL Fincorp also announced that it has obtained a trade licence in Dubai under the same trade name, and will commence operations in the next three months. The company also plans to raise ₹100 crore through a public issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to fund its expansion plans.

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