Piramal begins merger of DHFL with mortgage arm | Economic Times

Mumbai: An executive team headed by Jairam Sridharan of Piramal Retail Finance has been set up on the directions of the National Company Law Tribunal to effect the transfer of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) to its acquirer, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL).Khushru Jijina, managing director at PCHFL who has rich experience in corporate finance, is on the committee. “His expertise could be instrumental in dealing in DHFL’s wholesale book,” said a person familiar with the matter.Sridharan is the CEO of Piramal Retail Finance and is set to head the merged entity of DHFL and PCHFL. The indebted lender’s business will be merged with PCHFL.The others in the committee are three senior executives working with State Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Catalyst Trusteeship, a trustee for DHFL bondholders. The committee is working on several aspects of the resolution plan's execution. They include the reverse merger process, issuance of new equity shares, and structuring of bonds to be issued to lenders.While DHFL’s employees are likely to be retained as last-mile connectivity is essential, the job role of some people could be changed depending on the new business model.Email queries sent to DHFL and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance remained unanswered till as of press time. Piramal Capital has already put in place a team of around 30 people to facilitate the ongoing merger exercise with DHFL. It is also in the process of obtaining approval from the insurance regulator IRDAI.Piramal Capital will likely put on sale developers’ loan portfolio of about Rs 53,164 crore as it moves on a path to be a retail mortgage lender and cut lumpy builder loans, ET had reported on March 30.On June 7, the National Company Law Tribunal had permitted PCHFL to own the indebted home financier. It also mandated the setting up of a seven-member monitoring committee to help implement the resolution plan in the next 90 days.