Pegging the total estimated profit from about 10 projects of scam hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) at close to ₹44,000 crore, its jailed promoter Kapil Wadhawan has alleged that “outside forces” are trying to suppress their true value.
Calling for due diligence and independent valuation of these properties, Wadhawan has written a letter to R Subramaniakumar, Administrator, DHFL, offering to settle all claims of the company.
In a nine page letter dated October 17, Wadhawan, who is currently in Taloja jail, has proposed that he be allowed to transfer the right, title and interest in these projects to ensure a complete resolution of DHFL.
Stressing that his endeavour is to ensure maximum value and not to allow bids of lower value to be accepted, Wadhawan in his letter has also called for a practical and workable approach by all stakeholders to complete the resolution of DHFL and derive maximum value.
His letter came at a time when investors were submitting bids for the insolvent mortgage finance company. According to sources, just four entities have submitted bids and lenders could face a haircut of as much as ₹65,000 crore.
“...at the time of the submission of the Resolution Plan, the cash flow reports of some of these projects were from reputed and internationally acclaimed external valuers who have collectively valued the projects at ₹43,879 crore had been obtained,” Wadhawan said, adding that these were conservative estimates and lower than the market value.
“At the stage of the development plan, even with the 15 per cent development fee being charged by reputed developers, from the conservative cash flow estimate it was apparent that all the lenders of DHFL could be repaid without any haircut on the principal amount lent by them and interest was also to be paid to certain classes of lenders,” he further said.
Marquee projects
Wadhawan has pointed out that these properties include marquee projects like the Juhu Galli project (potential revenue of about ₹32,000 crore) and Irla project (potential revenue of around ₹4,400 crore), which would be key to resolving all the existing issues and would enable a successful resolution.
Companies including the Adani Group and Piramal Group were interested in developing these projects, he further noted.
DHFL became the first financial sector company to be taken into the corporate insolvency process in November last year. The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown have disrupted the process and the deadline for the submission of bids were postponed a number of times.