Reliance Home Fin extends maturity of non-convertible debentures by 4 mnths

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Home Finance Saturday said it has extended by four months the maturity date on its bonds worth Rs 400 crore due to continuing liquidity pressure.

In view of the continuing severe liquidity crisis in the sector, the maturity of certain NCDs of Rs 400 crore has been extended till October 31, 2019, with the formal written consent of the concerned debenture trustees and non-convertible debenture (NCD) holders, Reliance Home Finance (RHFL) said in a release.

"Extension of maturities by mutual consent is a recognised global practice to deal with severe dislocations in capital markets, and does not in any sense constitute a default," it said.

The extension of maturity has been made purely to address timing mismatches in receipt of proceeds from the ongoing monetisation of retail asset pools of the company.

RHFL has already monetised over Rs 5,000 crore of retail assets and will continue to do so to meet its debt servicing obligations, the company said.

The company offers services like home loans, affordable housing loans, loan against property and construction finance.

The housing finance sector is dealing with an extraordinary situation where all categories of lenders in the country have completely frozen new lending to private sector companies for nine long months, leading to a severe adverse impact on economic growth and a potential systemic threat to the stability of the Indian financial system, RHFL said.

The non-banking finance companies and housing finance companies have been facing liquidity crunch ever since the unfolding of IL&FS and group companies' payment default since September 2018.

The contagion effect has seen other companies feeling the liquidity crisis with DHFL making several defaults in the recent past.