Only two of six bids for Reliance Home Finance are compliant and binding

Six bidders have submitted bids for Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL).

Of these, only two bidders submitted compliant and binding bids and other four bids are non-binding and not compliant with bid conditions.

The lenders have decided to further extend the bidding timeline till January 31, 2021, in order to accommodate the four non compliant bidders.

The two compliant bidders opposed the arbitrary change of rules of the game by the lenders and the bidders threatened to walk away from the non-transparent process.

The lenders of RHFL have received a total of six bids for its assets in response to the resolution process being run.

However, only two bids are binding and compliant in nature with the bid conditions. The two compliant and binding bids are from Avenue, a US based fund and ARCIL, an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC), as a joint bid.

The second bid is by Authum Investment & Infrastructure Limited, listed non banking finance company (NBFC).

The other four bids are non-binding in nature and are also not compliant with the bid conditions. These for bidders have also not placed the mandatory bid bond of Rs 10 crore.

Kotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF) and Asset Care and Reconstruction Enterprise Limited (ACRE) have submitted non binding bid with several conditions, including exclusivity and has also asked for additional time of two months to complete due-diligence, even after the deadline which was extended multiple times.

The other two ARCs namely, Invent and Alchemist have also submitted conditional bids which are non-compliant with the bids condition and have not paid the mandatory bid bond of Rs 10 crore.

The lenders at their meeting held on December 17, 2020 decided to extend the bid time by two months till January 31, 2021 and invite revised bids from all the Bidders, so that non-compliant bidders may be accommodated.

Avenue/Arcil and Authum -- the two binding and compliant bidders have opposed the lenders action citing an attempt to change the rules of the game and have threatened to walk away from the process.

In August this year, lenders led by Bank of Baroda had invited expressions of interest for the assets of Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance, both arms of Reliance Capital.

The resolution process is being managed by BoBCapital Markets (BoB Caps) and Ernst & Young (EY).