In October last year, a forensic audit conducted by KPMG on behalf of lenders to Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd found a diversion of more than Rs 19,000 crore of bank loans to related entities.
Around the same time, company promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate for alleged links between a firm associated with DHFL and Iqbal Mirchi, the late gangster.
Following that, the Reserve Bank of India in November superseded the board of DHFL and appointed a three-member body to advise a central bank-appointed administrator. It also asked DHFL’s lenders to begin bankruptcy proceedings against the NBFC under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
A little over a year later, the committee of creditors to DHFL have received bids from four parties for the company’s assets. Two of these – Piramal Enterprises Ltd and American asset management firm Oaktree Capital – have publicly sparred in the past few weeks over the viability of each side’s offers.
In this podcast, we discuss the nature of this bidding war and what implications it may hold for each side looking to scoop up the NBFC’s portfolio. We also discuss the larger consequences of this case, not only for the bidders, but for DHFL’s creditors, the IBC, and the RBI as well.