Piramal Enterprises: DHFL acquisition fast-forwards retail aspiration

Integration may take about six months, though execution may be a tightrope walk

After months of negotiations and upping its bid price with every round to take over the beleaguered housing financier Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL), the healthcare to realty to financial services firm, Piramal Enterprises, has finally emerged successful. The decision was public on Friday, after market hours, though its stock didn’t take the news very jubilantly on Monday – down about 2.5 per cent in BSE. On a one-year basis Piramal Enterprises stock hasn’t returned much gains to its investors (down about three per cent) and is way far away from its all-time high of over Rs 3,000 a