The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday gave its approval to Piramal Group’s bid for bankrupt Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL), subject to certain conditions.
The tribunal’s Mumbai-bench, chaired by H.P. Chaturvedi and Ravikumar Duraisamy, said the approval is subject to the final judgment from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and the Supreme Court’s judgment on Kapil Wadhawan in the matter. The Supreme Court will hear Wadhawan’s appeal on Tuesday, while the next date for the NCLAT hearing is June 25.
In its order, the NCLT asked DHFL’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) to consider giving more money to small fixed deposit holders under the approved resolution plan.
“We are not remanding the plan back to the CoC, we respect their commercial wisdom,” it said.
The NCLT also rejected former DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan’s plea to get access to a copy of the resolution plan.
On May 25, the NCLAT stayed the direction of the NCLT asking the lenders of DHFL to consider the offer by Wadhawan.
The appellate tribunal had also clarified that its order should not come in the way of the NCLT deciding on approving the resolution plan selected by the CoC.
The NCLAT’s direction had come on an urgent petition moved by the Union Bank of India on behalf of the CoC.
On May 19, the NCLT asked the RBI-appointed administrator of DHFL to present the settlement plan offered by Wadhawan to the CoC.
In January this year, the CoC had voted in favour of selling DHFL to Piramal Capital and Housing Finance under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Last year, Wadhawan had made his settlement offer
to the CoC. The offer was rejected by the creditors, citing lack of credibility and the valuations attached to the proposed asset sales.
In the plan, Wadhawan had proposed to repay lenders by selling assets. In November 2019, the RBI had referred DHFL — then the third-largest pure-play mortgage lender — for resolution under the code.
DHFL had gone bankrupt with more than Rs 90,000 crore in debt to various lenders, including banks, mutual funds and individual investors who kept fixed deposits with the company.
Delist plan
DHFL’s shares would be delisted from the stock exchanges post acquisition by Piramal Capital, which has emerged as the successful bidder for the company, reports PTI.
As part of the resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), lenders led by Union Bank of India in January this year favoured the bid by Piramal Capital to take over the beleaguered housing finance firm.
According to sources, shares of DHFL would be delisted post acquisition according to the IBC guidelines and Sebi delisting norms.
Besides, sources said, the company may merge itself with DHFL for which a call would be taken after all legal and regulatory clearances are obtained.
Jaypee Infra
Suraksha group on Monday submitted “improved revised” bid to acquire debt-laden Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), offering more funds to banks while reducing the timeline to complete some stalled projects for the benefit of homebuyers. The Mumbai-based firm is pitted against NBCC to acquire JIL.
