A total of 14 entities including foreign banks, private equity funds and non-bank lenders have begun talks to buy the entire retail portfolio of Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) worth Rs 32,000 crore ($4.5 billion at current exchange rate), people in the know told The Economic Times.
Those that have shown interest include the Shriram Group, Edelweiss Financial Services, Adani Capital, a consortium led by Piramal Group-Bain Capital and Indostar Capital, the people said. Foreign banks circling DHFL include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, they added. Private equity funds such as Warburg Pincus, AION Capital, Lone Star and SSG Capital are also interested besides local asset reconstruction company Arcil, the people said asking not to be named.
The expressions of interest are to be submitted on February 17 and the final bids will be submitted before April 16, the report said.
While bidders are being cautious regarding the asset quality, the portfolio of Rs 62,000 crore –- Rs 32,000 crore retail book and the remaining securitised pool — is a big pull.
“The bidders will have to shell out up to Rs 6,000 crore initially as they have to pay back the lenders through the lifecycle of the loan — this is also bringing in a lot of investor interest,” said one official involved in the sale process.