Religare Finvest puts an end to legacy issues, completes one-time settlement with lenders

Religare Enterprises arm Religare Finvest (RFL) has completed a one-time settlement with its creditors by making Rs 400 crore final payment ahead of the deadline.

"The settlement is the last milestone for the closure of the legacy issues, which emanated from the misconduct of the erstwhile promoters, " the company said in a statement.

Since January 2018, when the new management took over, Religare Finvest has repaid over Rs 9,000 crore to its lenders from its collections and through the support of its parent company.

“This settlement paves way for restarting the business of Religare Finvest and focusing on building a niche in the MSME lending space” the company said.

Religare Enterprises said that RFL will have a healthy balance sheet to sustain business growth in the next few quarters.

RFL’s subsidiary RHDFCL will be made a direct subsidiary of REL in due course in continuation of its objective of focussing on the rapid growth of its affordable housing finance business.

“RFL OTS is one of its kind revival wherein the management has been able to conclude the legacy issues faced by Religare Group on account of fraudulent activities of erstwhile promoters and has still paid a significant amount to lenders while preserving the long term value of the Religare Group," said Dr Rashmi Saluja, Executive Chairperson, Religare Enterprises

"We are grateful to our regulators and our lenders, who have put faith in the governance and revival initiatives of the new management. I am very confident that Religare 2.0 will be able to grow faster, as well as a foray into newer businesses to become a 360-degree financial services group and enhance value for all its stakeholders,” Rashmi added.

Commenting on the development, Pankaj Sharma, CEO, Religare Finvest said, "Going forward, we will continue to focus on lending to micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) by building a granular book and create a niche for RFL in this critically important segment for growth of the Indian economy.”

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