Cash-strapped DHFL says it may not be able to meet repayment obligations due in immediate future

Cash-strapped Dewan Housing Finance Corp (DHFL) on Thursday said it may not be able to meet its repayment obligations due in immediate future to the lenders, who are part of the inter-creditor agreement. The non-banking financial company reiterated that the company has been facing a liquidity crisis since September 2018, and despite the challenges, it has so far paid back over Rs 41,000 crore. The ongoing discussions among lenders are regarding loans of around Rs 38,000 crore from banks that DHFL wants recast, with moratorium on repayments, Mint reported. 

“Given the ongoing discussions on the resolution plan with the lenders who have signed the ICA (inter-creditor agreement), the company believes that its payment obligations falling due in the immediate future, may not be met as per their existing schedule,” DHFL said in a regulatory filing.

Further, it said that in meeting the repayments of over Rs 41,000 crore, the financial obligations were met mainly through a combination of securitisation of assets and repayment collections. [caption id=“attachment_6023581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “We would like to reiterate that the company remains committed to resolving the issues being faced by it and is making best efforts to work out a resolution plan which will be in the best interest of all the stakeholders,” DHFL said. As part of the ICA, the company has formulated a draft resolution plan, as per the RBI’s prudential framework for resolution of stressed assets. “While most of the lenders have executed the ICA, one of our debenture trustees, namely, Catalyst Trusteeship Services Ltd, is also, undertaking the process of seeking consent from the debenture holders to be a party to the ICA,” it said. As per the ICA, DHFL earlier on Tuesday had said that none of its creditors will have to face any haircuts. The other features of the plan include a moratorium on repayments and seeking funding from banks/National Housing Bank (NHB) for starting the retail funding activity. The company has a debt pile-up of Rs 90,000 crore and has defaulted on its various repayment obligations in a serial manner in the recent past. DHFL has been generating funds through various means and has exited from its subsidiary units to tide over the current financial crunch. The company in mid-July posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss of Rs 2,224 crore for the quarter ended March 2018-19. Besides, one of the company’s auditors Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP tendered resignation as statutory auditor of the company this week. The reasons cited by Deloitte “are that in view of the matters stated in the disclaimer of opinion in the financial statements of the company for the year ended on March 2019 issued by them and its consequential effect on reporting under the Companies Act, 2013, their firm’s policy on client acceptance and continuation does not permit them to continue as statutory auditors of the company”, DHFL had said on 6 August. It also added that the company was in discussion with leading reputed audit firms to appoint statutory auditors. In July, DHFL had warned that its financial situation was so grim that it might not survive. The company had said it was “undergoing substantial financial stress” and its ability to raise funds was “substantially impaired and the business has been brought to a standstill with there being minimal/virtually no disbursements”. “These developments may raise a significant doubt on the ability of the company to continue as a going concern,” it said in notes accompanying results for the fourth quarter ending March 31, signed by Chairman and Managing Director Kapil Wadhawan. With agency inputs