Amid crisis, DHFL receives claims of Rs 92,404 crore

Of the Rs 86,892 crore claims submitted by financial creditors, Rs 45,550.07 crore are from bondholders and Rs 41,342 crore from other lenders.

By Ankur Mishra

The troubled mortgage financier, Dewan Housing Finance Corp (DHFL), has received claims of Rs 92,404 crore so far from creditors, which include financial creditors, operational creditors, deposit holders along with employees and workmen.

In a committee of creditors (CoC) meeting held on Monday, DHFL administrator informed that the company has received claims of Rs 87,905 crore till December 17, excluding deposit holders. FE learned from sources that DHFL has also received claims of Rs 4,500 crore from deposit holders till now. “This makes total claims at Rs 92,404 crore till date and the window for deposit holders to submit claims is open till 90 days from the admission of resolution process,” the source added.

These claims were submitted to the RBI-appointed administrator, R Subramaniakumar, a former managing director and chief executive of Indian Overseas Bank.

Of the Rs 86,892 crore claims submitted by financial creditors, Rs 45,550.07 crore are from bondholders and Rs 41,342 crore from other lenders.

India’s largest bank, State Bank of India, including SBI Singapore, is the lead creditor with a claim of Rs 10,082.9 crore, followed by Bank of India, which has claimed Rs 4,125.52 crore. Canara Bank has claimed Rs 2,681.81 crore, National Housing Bank (NHB) has claimed Rs 2,433.79 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 2,378.05 crore and Syndicate Bank Rs 2,229.29 crore, among other lenders.

Apart from financial creditors, the operational creditors have claimed Rs 60.76 crore. Employees and workmen have claimed Rs 2.01 crore. Interestingly, the administrator has also received claims of Rs 950.53 crore from ‘creditors other than financial and operational creditors’. These companies include Neelkamal Realtors Tower, which is a subsidiary of Mumbai-based real estate company DB Realty. Other companies in the list are HM Towers, MAN Realty and Merino Shelters.

Neelkamal Realtors has alone claimed Rs 757.65 crore from DHFL.

The CoC also considered proposals of cost to be incurred by the company during resolution process. This includes Rs 75 lakh/month for advisor to administrator – EY India. CoC also considered fees to legal advisor AZB Partners, which amounted to Rs 11,500 per hour on a blended basis. The voting on proposals will start on Wednesday January 1, 2020 and will continue till 72 hours before announcement of results. The next CoC meeting will be held on January 14, 2020.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had earlier admitted DHFL for insolvency resolution on December 2 after RBI appointed Indian Overseas Bank’s former MD and CEO R Subramaniakumar as the company’s administrator. RBI’s decision on DHFL came after the government on November 18 empowered regulators under Section 227 of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to refer cases of stressed financial service providers with assets of at least Rs 500 crore to the insolvency court.

Lenders initially tried to resolve DHFL’s stress as per the RBI’s prudential norms on stressed assets resolution, under which lenders are mandated to sign an intercreditor agreement (ICA). A resolution plan was then approved by DHFL’s board in September, which proposed a conversion of debt to equity, leading to lenders acquiring a 51% stake in the company.