PremiumMumbai: Global alternative asset investor Oaktree Capital management has emerged as the highest bidder for Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) in a revised round of bidding for the troubled mortgage lender, two people directly aware of the development told Mint requesting anonymity. According to the persons cited above, Oaktree Capital has bid ₹32,700 crore followed by Piramal group which has offered ₹32350 crore and Adani has offered ₹29860 crore to buy the entire portfolio of the mortgage financier. SC Lowy, which had earlier for DHFL’s assets did not submit a fresh bid after lenders called for revised bidding in anticipation of a higher offer for the company’s assets.
Adani Group has also submitted a separate offer for the wholesale and slum rehabilitation projects controlled by DHFL. Piramal Group, too, has submitted a fresh bid for the retail assets controlled by the home financier, apart from its offer for the full loan book. The revised bids were called after Adani's unsolicited offer to buy the entire company instead of the select assets it had bid on earlier. In the previous round of bidding, Oaktree Capital had revised its bid price for the entire portfolio to ₹31,000 crore from ₹28,000 crore earlier. Piramal Enterprises had revised its bid price for the retail portfolio to ₹26,000 crore from ₹15,000 crore earlier. Adani had offered ₹2,700 crore for the wholesale and SRA book and SC Lowy has upped its bid for the non-SRA book to ₹2,300 crore from ₹1,500 crore earlier.
But, in a surprise move, Adani offered to bid ₹250 crore more than Oaktree for the entire firm, which led to lenders calling for the fourth round of bidding.
Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd’s erstwhile promoter Kapil Wadhawan has offered a proposal for repayment to the creditors of DHFL on the same day the company received revised bids from resolution applicants like Oaktree Capital, Piramal Enterprises, Adani Group and SC Lowy.
In a letter to the administrator, Wadhawan reiterated his offer to make 100% repayment to all creditors within 7-8 years with an upfront payment of ₹9000 crore.
“If the bids received for DHFL continue to be as low as they were previously, I would request the committee of creditors to consider my settlement proposal instead rather than permit DHFL to be sold for a song," he said.
Wadhawans had proposed that the settlement plan will commence from fiscal year 2022 onwards and will ensure completion of stalled projects for recovery of dues from borrowers in wholesale business. Going forward the company will focus on fresh retail loans, the letter said.
DHFL’s outstanding loan book stands at ₹67,000 crore, which includes wholesale loans worth ₹40,000 crore, retail loans worth ₹17,000 crore and delinquent loans worth ₹10,000 crore. The company went under insolvency in November last year, after the Reserve Bank of India asked lenders to initiate proceedings.
