RCap in talks with 4 investors to divest stake in Reliance Home Finance

Reliance Home Finance is also looking to wind down its book and focus on the retail segment, which is valued at about Rs 4,000 crore

Reliance Capital is in talks with at least four companies to sell its stake in housing finance subsidiary Reliance Home Finance, which is under debt of around Rs 11,500 crore.

Reliance Capital is in talks with Varde Partners, AION Capital, Cerberus Management and Altico Capital India. Of them, two companies are at an advanced stage of discussions with Reliance Capital.

Reliance Home Finance is looking to wind down its book and focus on the retail segment, which is valued at about Rs 4,000 crore. The wholesale loan book of the company is over Rs 6,000 crore.

Earlier, Reliance Capital was in talks with Carlyle, Brookfield and the Piramal group to sell a stake in the home finance business.

There were also reports that Reliance Home Finance signed an inter-creditor agreement with lenders and was looking to bring in a strategic partner to pare its debt.

Reliance Capital had deferred its FY19 March quarter (Q4) results after Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance named new statutory auditors and said it would take some time to consolidate the subsidiaries’ financials with those of the holding company.

Price Waterhouse & Co last month resigned as statutory auditors of both Reliance Capital and Reliance Home Finance, citing unsatisfactory response to “certain observations” made by it as part of the ongoing audit for 2018-19. 

The board of Reliance Capital (RCap), however, denied all violations raised by erstwhile auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in its letter to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

“The company is planning to take legal action against PwC after an independent investigation conducted by top law firms revealed there was no diversion of funds as alleged by PwC,” a source close to the company said.