The voting process for the acquisition of troubled mortgage lender DHFL commenced on Monday with Oaktree Capital and the Piramal group engaged in a close race. The window will remain open till January 14. Apart from these two players, the Adani group is in the race.

The winning bid will need to have the support of at least 66 per cent of creditors by value. Last week, both Oaktree and Piramal had raised their offers.

The US-based asset management firm has offered Rs 38,400 crore, up from its earlier bid of Rs 36,600 crore for the entire company. The Piramal group has offered more than Rs 37,200 crore, which included an upfront cash payment of Rs 12,700 crore.

Ahead of the crucial vote, Oaktree Capital said in a letter to the Committee of Creditors (CoC) that its offer for the DHFL is being consistently misrepresented and that the evaluation of its financial proposals is based on incorrect information. Hinting at legal action, it said that this may be subject to judicial, administrative and investigative review.

“In terms of total recovery being offered to financial creditors as well as net present value, Oaktree’s financial proposal is clearly superior to all other PRAs,” said the company in the letter. It further alleged that information is not only being presented in an incomplete and inaccurate manner but also in order to discredit its bid and favour the second highest bidder.

However, the spokesperson of Piramal group had said that the “Oaktree bid is short on upfront cash, short on NPV, short on the overall score, un-implementable due to insurance-related complications, and leaves lenders with weak debt paper’’.