Oaktree Offers $5 Billion for India Shadow Lender Dewan Housing

(Bloomberg) -- Bankrupt Indian shadow lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp., which was seized by the central bank last year, has attracted sweetened bids from suitors.

Oaktree Capital Group has offered 366.5 billion rupees ($5 billion), up from 310 billion rupees in its previous bid and 280 billion rupees in its initial bid, according to people familiar with the matter. Piramal Enterprises and Adani Group also improved their proposals, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

Dewan Housing offers a barometer of investor interest in India’s shadow banking industry, as it tries to put the worst of the pandemic behind it. The sector has seen some improvement recently, but is still grappling with a crisis sparked by the shock failure of major financier IL&FS Group in late 2018.

Here are the bid details:

• Oaktree’s 366.5 billion rupee bid includes 116.5 billion rupees in cash and 10 billion rupees toward insurance. The remaining portion would be paid against debt over 7 years
• Piramal has offered 355.5 billion rupees: 127 billion rupees in cash and 3 billion rupees toward insurance, the rest against debt over 10 years
• Adani has offered 331 billion rupees including 107.5 billion rupees cash and 2.5 billion rupees toward insurance and the rest against debt over seven years

Oaktree, Adani and Piramal declined to comment. There was no reply from Dewan’s administrator to an emailed request for comment.

Read Bloomberg’s latest Indian shadow bank tracker here.

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