Promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) may sell some of their stake in the company within a month, a CNBC TV18 report said, adding that Apollo Global, ICICI Venture-backed Aion Capital, Lone Star and Cerebrus are among the potential buyers.
According to the report, the promoters have already received an indicative term sheet for a deal and are looking to make the deal legally binding in a month.
Wadhawan Global Capital Ltd currently owns 37.3% in DHFL and is the primary stakeholder in DHFL. But after the deal, its stake is likely to fall sharply, which would result in changes in management at DHFL.
In a related development, CNBC TV18 also reported that DHFL is likely to default on interest payment of Rs 1,150 crore on non-convertible debentures (NCDs) due to liquidity crunch. However, the company has said it is taking all necessary steps and shall ensure that the payment is made within the grace period of seven working days, reiterating that the missed deadline does not constitute default, only a delay.
“Since September 2018, DHFL has repaid close to Rs 40,000 crore of financial obligations. While DHFL had to stop premature FD (fixed deposit) withdrawals as a policy, in order to conserve liquidity (as allowed by regulations), the company preferred to uphold customer interest and processed all normal maturity payments as well as all cases of medical exigencies. With regards to NCD repayments, DHFL has fulfilled its payment obligations of Rs 5,416 crore till date,” it said.
In order to ease liquidity situation, DHFL and Wadhawan Global Capital have sold stake in many of their subsidiaries. In February, Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC) had announced that it was selling its entire 70% stake in the affordable housing finance company, Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd (AHFL), to Blackstone. DHFL, which held a 9.15% stake in AHFL, had also exit the company.
Also, in March, Wadhawan Global Capital had entered into a definitive agreement with an affiliate of the Warburg Pincus Group to sell its entire 49.04% stake in its education finance subsidiary Avanse Financial Services Ltd.
Source: News18