What is the latest tiff between Oaktree and Piramal Enterprises over the Dewan Housing stake?

Oaktree Capital, one of the key bidders for Dewan Housing, has filed a complaint to RBI about a consistent campaign to misrepresent its bid. Oaktree has reiterated that it has offered the best deal to stakeholders. However, it noted that most of the other competing players had been carrying on a sustained campaign against its bid.

Oaktree and Piramal are in the race to gain control of DHFL and Adani is also in the fray. DHFL is undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). In a special case, DHFL was referred to bankruptcy proceedings, the first time an NBFC was being referred specifically for bankruptcy by the RBI due to the systemic risk that it carried.

However, the key bidder in the CIRP, Piramal Enterprises has denied such allegations made by Oaktree. The Piramal spokesperson has actually hit back at Oaktree saying that they were creating imaginary conspiracy theories. According to Piramal, the bid put by Piramal was the most competitive and that could have forced Oaktree to adopt a negative approach.

Piramal’s contention is that the Oaktree bid is short on upfront cash and on net present value or NPV compared to the PEL bid. Oaktree has raised doubts about the process followed by the COC and the preference it had shown for bidders other than Oaktree. Piramal has called it more of attention and headline grabbing attempt by Oaktree.