MUMBAI: Promoters of troubled housing finance company DHFL are in talks with private equity investor Apollo Global Management to sell a sizeable stake in the company. The promoter group Wadhawan Global Capital, which holds 37.3% in DHFL, is looking for an investor that will buy out the promoters and infuse capital into the company.The company has been forced to raise funds through sale of assets after it was downgraded to default by rating agencies. Banks do not lend to a company that has been classified as a defaulter. Recently, DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan had said that the promoters are in talks with investors and a deal is likely in weeks.
DHFL was the third-largest housing finance company with assets under management of Rs 1.3 lakh crore and debt of Rs 90,000 crore as of Q2FY19. The company in a statement said that it has repaid debt worth Rs 40,000 crore by selling its loans.
The company's share price has fallen from a high of Rs 679 on the BSE to a low of Rs 83 on June 7. The trigger for the initial crash last year was the company's use of short-term finance to repay long-term loans - a model that unravelled in the wake of IL&FS's collapse.
The group has been selling assets over the last few months as it faces its biggest liquidity crisis since inception. As part of the fund-raising, DHFL has sold a large chunk of its home loan portfolio to public sector banks like SBI.