Adani likely to vie for entire DHFL portfolio through a sweetened bid

Adani Group has offered to further enhance its bid for the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) and has shown interest in bidding for the entire portfolio of the bankrupt company.

According to sources, Adani Group representatives had a meeting with the lenders on Friday on the matter wherein they offered to pay more the bidding amount pegged by Oaktree, the highest bidder so far. The company has also written to the lenders -- Committee of Creditors (CoC) -- on the same.

The company is likely to submit a revised bid in the next couple of days, said people in the know.

Oaktree has offered a revised bidding price of Rs 33,000 crore for the entire portfolio of DHFL. Now, Adani is ready to shell out Rs 250-300 crore more, compared to the offer by Oaktree, people in the know said.

So far, Adani had proposed to bid for the wholesale and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) asset portfolio. Earlier this week, it had revised its bid for the two portfolios to Rs 3,000 crore, as against the earlier bid of Rs 2,250 crore.

However, now it wants to go for the entire portfolio of DHFL, including the retail segment.

Adani Group, however, did not respond to a question sent by IANS on the matter.

The development comes days after Kapil Wadhawan, the promoter of DHFL wrote to the RBI-appointed administrator of DHFL, R. Subramaniakumar, claiming that the revised bids received for the resolution process are "abysmally low" and they would result in a haircut of around 60 per cent.

Wadhawan in his letter reiterated that the promoters had in September last year proposed a resolution plan that was accepted by all the banks including the National Housing Bank which provided for 100 per cent principal repayment to every creditor and also payment of entire interest due to particular categories of creditors. They had also submitted the plan to the administrator.

Sources close to Wadhawan said that the four bidders have enhanced their bids as the promoters are stuck to the resolution plan without any haircut and their stand that the books of DHFL are "stronger than anticipated".

Stating that he can help in better assessment of the assets, Wadhawan had written in his last letter to the administrator: "If I am provided access to the records and documents of the company, I will be in a position to make a propose assessment basis the latest numbers and make a proposal setting out the necessary upfront and deferred payment components which will provide maximum value realisation for all stakeholders."

According to him, the bids will only result in massive loss of public money and will substantially benefit a few.

Apart from Adani and US based Oaktree, Piramal Enterprises and Hongkong-based SC Lowy are in fray for DHFL's assets.

Last month, Wadhawan had offered the monetisation of his family's properties which he says are worth around Rs 43,000 crore for repayment towards the lenders.

Later, Subramaniakumar, the RBI-appointed administrator for DHFL in response to his letter said that Wadhawan's offer to assist the resolution process through monetisation of his family and personal assets is based on untenable legal grounds and the property values as stated by Wadhawan are grossly inflated.

--IANS

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