Lenders of Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) are not satisfied with the price offer made by the four bidders for the stressed assets of the housing finance company. They have asked the bidders to sweeten their offer by 31 October.
The DHFL Committee of Creditors (CoC) met on 26 December to examine the detailed presentations made by Adani Group, Piramal Enteprises, Oaktree Capital Management and SC Lowy. They found the bid amount for either acquiring a stake or purchasing the assets of the bankrupt company too low.
The administration will not be calling for fresh bids but asking the existing four interested parties to revise upwards their bids, a source said.
While Oaktree offered Rs 28,000 crore to acquire DHFL's entire book, Piramal Enterprises offered Rs 15,000 crore to only acquire the stressed company's retail book. Oaktree's offer included Rs 12,000 crore as upfront cash while the balance would be in the form of non-convertible debentures to be paid over seven years with a coupon of 6.5%. Piramal was agreeing to pay Rs 9,000 crore as an upfront cash payment and Rs 6,000 crore as debt instruments.
The other two bidders are interested in wholesale and slum rehabilitation (SRA) or construction projects.
In November 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had referred DHFL to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for insolvency proceedings, making it the first non-banking finance company (NBFC) to be taken to the bankruptcy court. The NCLT's Mumbai chapter admitted DHFL for debt resolution in December after the company failed to repay its debt pegged at around Rs 88,000 crore.
