Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL), which is bidding for assets of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), has opposed Adani group’s bid to acquire the entire portfolio of the mortgage lender, two people aware of the development said.
Piramal raised its objection before DHFL’s committee of creditors (CoC) a day after Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) told the committee of Adani’s intent to bid for the whole portfolio, which, if accepted, would put others in the fray, including SC Lowy, Oaktree Capital and Piramal, out of the race.
Emails sent to Adani group, Piramal and State Bank India, one of the lenders to DHFL, did not elicit any response.
On Friday, Mint reported citing people aware of the matter that Adani has written to the lenders’ panel expressing its interest to bid for the entire portfolio of DHFL. In its revised offer, Adani has suggested a bid price that is ₹250 crore higher than rival Oaktree’s bid. AEL told the lenders that it will submit the resolution plan by next week.
Piramal, according to the people cited above, has told the creditors that it would be compelled to withdraw from the bidding process if Adani is allowed to place a revised bid. In a letter to the lenders, Piramal said that such a move is not in accordance with the provision of the insolvency laws.
“The manner and timing of the submission of such a resolution plan are intended to disrupt and vitiate the process being followed under the current RFRP (request for resolution plan) and undermine the considerable time and effort invested by us and other participants in submitting our resolution plans faithfully in accordance with the provisions of the RFRP and applicable law,” it said.
Piramal pointed out in the letter that as per the insolvency rules, no bidder can submit an unsolicited or revised resolution plan after the deadline is over. It also added that the administrator can seek re-issue of resolution plans only if the plans received are unsatisfactory.
“We have reasons to believe the details of our resolution plan may have been leaked and have been considered for the purpose of making such an unsolicited offer. We would strongly urge the administrator and CoC to probe if there has been a breach of confidentiality with respect to particulars of our resolution plan and identify the source of such breach,” Piramal said.
Following the CoC meeting held on Thursday, Adani also sent a revised bid for DHFL’s wholesale and slum rehabilitation (SRA) book. The company, which had put in a bid of ₹2,300 crore for the portfolio, has now raised it to ₹2,800 crore. This has forced the CoC to seek fresh bids from all lenders in the second round of bidding by Tuesday, according to the two people cited earlier.
On 9 November, the four bidders had submitted revised price offers to either acquire a stake or buy out DHFL’s assets.
Oaktree has submitted a revised bid for the portfolio at ₹31,000 crore against ₹28,000 crore earlier. Piramal has revised its bid price for the retail portfolio to ₹26,000 crore from ₹15,000 crore. Adani has offered ₹2,700 crore for the wholesale and SRA book against ₹2,200 crore earlier and SC Lowy has upped its bid for the non-SRA book to ₹2,300 crore from ₹1,500 crore.
