Northern ARC Capital Limited (Formerly known Highland Leasing & Finance Private Limited) was incorporated on March 9, 1989 as a Private Limited Company by the Registrar of Companies, Tamil Nadu at Chennai. The name of Company was changed to IFMR Capital Finance Private Limited' on June 19, 2009. Subsequently, the Company was converted into a Public Limited Company and the name of Company was changed to IFMR Capital Finance Limited' on December 12, 2017 and finally to Northern Arc Capital Limited' through a fresh Certificate of Incorporation dated February 20, 2018 issued by RoC. The Company has obtained Revised Certificate dated March 8, 2018 for Change in Name.
The Company is a diversified financial services platform set up primarily to the diverse retail credit requirements of the under-served households and businesses in India. The Company provide liquidity and develop access to debt-capital markets for institutions that impact financially excluded households and business enterprises. It operate in sectors like microfinance, MSME finance, vehicle finance (includes commercial vehicle and two-wheeler finance), consumer finance, affordable housing finance and agricultural supply chain finance. The Company provide multiple offerings to facilitate the flow of credit to the under-served households and businesses. The platform provides three primary channels, i.e., (i) Lending (ii) Placements and (iii) Fund Management.
The Company enable financing to underserved customers through their Originator Partners in multiple ways depending on their specific needs - including lending to and investing in debt securities issued by the partners for their on-lending activities. The products include Loans, NCDs, CPs, securitization and assignment of receivables (sale of assets). In addition to these, it provide partial guarantees for borrowings of the Originator Partners and third-party credit enhancements for securitization of receivables with other lenders. Through the expansion of the Markets franchise, it has access to reliable and efficient debt capital, onshore and offshore for our Originator Partners.
In 2009, Company had ventured into first microfinance securitization transaction in new asset classes such as cash loans, consumer durables and trade receivables to fund the needs of existing and new Originator Partners.
In 2010, the Company arranged and structured India's first pooled multi-originator securitization transaction (MOSEC) which enabled funding to four Originator Partners operating in the microfinance sector. It completed first placement transaction of a microfinance securitization with private individual investor, entered the MSME finance sector in 2011. In 2013, it ventured into the vehicle finance and affordable housing finance sectors and completed India's first listed securitization of microfinance loans, which enabled funding to eight Originator Partners operating in the microfinance sector.
The Company started operation in fund management business, through subsidiary Northern Arc Investment Managers Private Limited (NAIM) in 2014. In 2016, it commenced retail business, expanded platform with commencement of business with mid-market companies.
In 2018, the Company undertook first persistent securitization transaction which was India's first vehicle loan backed securitization transaction with replenishing structure. This transaction enabled funding to an Originator Partner operating in the vehicle finance sector. In 2019, the Company underwent reorganization through Scheme and became a professionally managed company, got into the consumer finance sector; completed equity raise from IIFL Funds and strategic investment by SMBC, a global bank; structured and arranged the country's first issuance of dual-recourse debentures which enabled funding operating in the vehicle finance sector.
Nimbus 1.0 was launched in September 2018. The Company disbursed microfinance loans under the retail business through Nimbus; arranged and structured India's first securitization transaction involving trade receivables which enabled funding to 10 vendors in 2020; in 2021, AltiFi, a digital retail investment platform to sell down dematerialized securities held by them to eligible investors got launched.
The Company launched supply chain financing, education loan and MSME loan against property business in 2022. It acquired the identified assets and liabilities of S.M.I.L.E. Microfinance Limited and 144 branches in April, 2022.
In 2023, the Company launched the Emerging Corporate Bond Fund, the 10th fund managed by Northern Arc Investments, which focused on serving credit requirements of emerging corporates thus extending their experience of underwriting non-financial institutions corporates to the investors in the fund. NuScore got launched in January, 2023. The Company launched subscription to public issuances of bonds on Altifi. It raised funds from large banks in the country like SBI, BoB, Union Bank, Indian Bank, HDFC, Axis, Kotak, IDFC Bank, etc.
The Company came up with an Initial Public Offering of 29,597,646 Equity Shares by raising funds from public aggregating to Rs 777 Crore, comprising a Fresh Issue of 19,065,326 Equity Shares aggregating to Rs 500 Crore and 10,532,320 Equity Shares aggregating to Rs 277 Crore in September, 2024.
In 2024, the Company raised equity fund from IFC, RJ Corp Limited and Varun Jaipuria. It obtained debt funding of USD 75 million from an Entrepreneurial Development Bank.