Five bidders — Kotak Special Situations Fund, Capri Global, Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd (Arcil), Acre ARC and Authum Investment and Infrastructure — have submitted final binding offers to buy debt-laden Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), according to The Economic Times report, which cited multiple people familiar with the process.
While Acre ARC and Authum have bid for the whole company, the rest have bid only for RHFL’s retail loan portfolio, the people added.
Acre has bid in association with its largest shareholder Ares SSG Capital.
“Acre is leading the bid, while Ares is backing it financially. The company has given a comprehensive restructuring plan, which will take care of the employees as well and hence would be acceptable to all stakeholders. Similarly, Authum has given a plan for the whole company,” said one of the persons cited above.
“The inter-corporate book is more than two times the retail (book) and could have a larger stressed pool; so, a majority of the bidders are looking to buy that as a portfolio purchase rather than the whole company,” said a second person involved in the process.
Meanwhile, global private equity fund Carlyle Group plans to create an investment platform to acquire pharmaceutical and life sciences assets in India by joining hands with former Mylan India CEO Hari Babu.
At present, Carlyle is in discussions to acquire a substantial stake in Viyash Pharmaceuticals, owned by Babu and Srihari Raju Kalidindi, former executive director of Laurus Labs.
Through Viyash, Carlyle plans to deploy about $300 million (about Rs 2,190 crore) in India, sources told The Economic Times.
“This financial investment by Carlyle in Hari Babu’s company is expected to act as a vehicle to acquire pharma assets,” said one of the sources mentioned above.
