6 suitors submit bids for acquiring Reliance Home Finance

Six suitors, including Kotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF) and Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited (ARCIL), have submitted bids for Reliance Home Finance, part of Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Group. Only two bidders submitted compliant and binding bids while four bids are non-binding and not compliant with bid conditions, sources said.

Lenders have decided to further extend the bidding time line till January 31, 2021, in order to accommodate the four non-compliant bidders, sources added. The two compliant bidders have opposed the move by the lenders and have threatened to walk away from alleged non-transparent process, they said. The two compliant and binding bids are from the US-based Avenue and ARCIL, an asset reconstruction company (ARC), as a joint bid and other from Authum Investment & Infrastructure Limited, listed non-banking finance company (NBFC).

Kotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF) and Asset Care and Reconstruction Enterprise Limited (ACRE) have submitted non-binding bid with several conditions including exclusivity and has also asked for additional time of two months to complete due-diligence, even after the deadline which was extended multiple times, sources said. The other two ARCs namely, Invent and Alchemist have also submitted conditional bids which are non-compliant with the bids condition and have not paid the mandatory bid bond of Rs 10 crore, they said.

The lenders at their meeting held on December 17, 2020, decided to extend the bid time by two months till January 31, 2021 and invited revised bids from all the bidders, so that non-compliant bidders may be accommodated, sources said. In August this year, lenders led by Bank of Baroda had invited expressions of interest for the assets of Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance, both arms of Reliance Capital. The resolution process is being managed by BoB Capital Markets (BoB Caps) and Ernst & Young (EY).

Those interested in Reliance Home Finance are allowed to bid for either its retail portfolio, or its entire shareholding and business, or the entire company excluding the wholesale book. Retail disbursements of Reliance Home Finance had plunged amid tightening liquidity following the collapse of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) in 2018, and significant debt repayments during the September 2018 to February 2019 period.