 "Hinduja Group")
The Hinduja family has informed global lending firms to help it raise up to $1 billion to finance the potential acquisition of Reliance Capital, The Economic Times (ET) has reported. The Hinduja group has emerged as the favoured bidder after the lenders to the insolvent financial services company approved Hinduja's resolution plan, the newspaper cited people aware of the matter.
The lenders that the Hinduja Group has reached out to include names like Farallon Capital, Oaktree, Ares Asia, and Cerberus. Hinduja and these lenders have been in contact in recent weeks to discuss the specifics of the proposed arrangement, the ET report said.
Besides, the Hinduja Group, Gujarat-based Torrent group was also competing to acquire Reliance Capital and participated in two bidding rounds. However, Torrent decided to stay away from the third bidding round and challenged the bidding process at the Supreme Court, the decision for which is pending.
Timeline for the deal
The timeline for finalising the deal would be around three to six months and will depend on how quickly the legal issues related to the acquisition are overcome. The final list of lenders supporting the acquisition can also undergo revision, the ET report said.
Approval from NCLT
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As the next step, the acquisition plan will be taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for approval this week.
The Hinduja family owns a 15 per cent share in IndusInd Bank through Mauritius-based IIHL, which is the holding company for the group in the financial services space.
The Hinduja Group has expressed its ambitions to expand into the financial services space. To this end, the group acquired a controlling stake in a bank in the Bahamas and got approval for a banking license in Mauritius, ET reported. Moreover, the public listing of IIHL is also on the cards next year.
