Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL) made the entire interest payment of ₹961 crore to its non-convertible debenture (NCD) holders on Monday.
The mortgage lender avoided defaulting on the payment which was due on June 4, as according to the trust deed, there was a ‘cure period’ of seven working days within which the payment could be made.
On Monday last, DHFL said it would make the payment within seven working days.
“DHFL today confirms that the company has made full payment towards interest payable on Secured Redeemable NCDs issued by way of public issue within the cure period of seven working days,” the company said.
The payment comes after DHFL completed the stake sale in Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd. to an entity backed by Blackstone Group LP on Monday.
DHFL exited Aadhar Housing Finance for ₹2,200 crore, of which the lender used ₹500 crore to pay NCD holders.
Following the delay in payment to NCD holders, ICRA downgraded commercial papers of the lender to ‘junk’ grade. The mortgage lender will now seek a rating upgrade from the rating agency.
“With this tranche, the company confirms full payment and will seek rating upgrades from agencies,” DHFL said.
ICRA has downgraded the rating on the ₹850-crore commercial paper programme of DHFL to D from A4 due to delay in meeting payment for NCDs.
DHFL said since September 2018, it had managed to make liabilities payment of over ₹36,000 crore without availing any fresh funding from any lender.
“The company reaffirms that they are committed to meeting all future debt servicing obligations in a timely manner, through further asset monetisation plans as well as on-boarding of a strategic partner for its business,” it added.
Following the IL&FS crisis which broke out in September, most shadow banks are facing liquidity crunch as banks became reluctant to lend to the sector. Promoters of DHFL are scouting for a strategic partner to off-load part of its stake in the company. While the deal was expected to be completed by April-end, the mortgage lender is yet to finalise any partner.
