MUMBAI: Mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) said it is yet to repay ₹225 crore out of the total ₹375 crore of commercial paper to a dozen investors.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the company said it has repaid ₹150 crore so far.
This is the second time this month that the company has missed the repayment deadline on a set of outstanding bonds.
On 4 June, DHFL defaulted on interest payment of ₹850 crore on its non-convertible debentures, following which its credit rating was downgraded to default or D by rating agencies Crisil and Icra. However, DHFL was able to pay the interest within a seven-day grace period given by the bondholders.
The delay in repayment comes ahead of the meeting of lenders to be held in the first week of July to hammer out a rescue package that includes loan restructuring, fresh working capital support, inducting a new financial investor, and a new management team.
The company has gaps in cash flow management and these need to be addressed immediately to avoid a potential impact on financial stability, lenders said.
The State Bank of India is the largest lender to DHFL with a total exposure of around ₹10,000 crore. DHFL has repaid close to ₹40,000 crore of its financial obligations since September and remains committed to meeting all debt obligations in a timely manner, the company said in its regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Over the past few months, DHFL has sold retail loans worth ₹30,000 crore via securitisation. It has also sold several of its strategic retail assets, including affordable housing arm Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd, educational loan business Avanse and DHFL Pramerica Asset Managers. In January, DHFL sold ₹1,375 crore of wholesale loans to foreign alternative investment management fund Oaktree Capital, which buys distressed loan portfolios at a discount.
Mint had reported on 20 June that DHFL has sold loan portfolio worth ₹2,000 crore to offshore investors in a transaction led by SC Lowy, a global banking group specialising in fixed income. This transaction amount is yet to come in.
DHFL had short-term borrowings of ₹8,812 crore in FY18, double the ₹4,268 crore in the previous fiscal, according to its annual report.
