Distress Demand: Deutsche buys Rs 112 cr DHFL bonds again

Deutsche Bank again bet on Dewan Housing Finance Corporation bonds as revival chances of the indebted home financier now look brighter.

The foreign lender bought Rs 112 crore worth of those deep discount debt securities from the secondary market Thursday extending its buying spree of distress assets.

Those papers changed hands via four transactions at price discounts in the range of 78-80 percent, show data from NSE. Sellers included mutual funds and others.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the matter.

“The foreign lender has been buying on behalf of some foreign institutional investors including hedge funds,” said a senior executive from a India-focused fund.

About two weeks ago, Deutsche had cut similar deals but for a larger sum of Rs 1,900 crore.

The Reserve Bank of India-appointed administrator now runs the indebted Dewan Housing Finance Company (DHFL) that is in a resolution process under aegis of the National Company Law Tribunal.

The committee of creditors (CoC) of the home financier decided to extend the deadline for submission of bids for the company. The bidders for the company had appealed to the administrators to relook at the timeline in the aftermath of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

DHFL had earlier shortlisted 22 out of 24 applicants for the resolution of the troubled company. It had given applicants the option to bid for the whole company or in parts.

More than a dozen had submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for the entire business of DHFL. Adani Group, Oaktree Capital, KKR India Financial Services, Bain Capital, Welspun Group were among suitors who placed EoIs to take over the entire business.