PNB Housing Finance, others in push to offload bad loans

Separately, IDBI Bank, PNB Housing Finance, and term-lending institution Sicom are working on plans to sell almost the entire distressed loan books, replicating the sale processes used by Yes Bank and Bandhan Bank to clean up their books last fiscal year. Yes Bank and Bandhan Bank have sold the majority of their distressed loan portfolios to asset reconstruction companies in order to begin fiscal year 2024 on a fresh slate. Last quarter, special situation funds began talks with IDBI Bank to acquire a non-performing loan book worth up to 25,000 crore. The discussions between the lender and the fund houses are in their early stages. IDBI Bank has made it clear that it will accept only an all-cash deal, implying that only those with deep pockets should bid. PNB Housing Finance has invited bids to sell a loan book worth approximately 3,000 crore, which includes 7-8 large accounts. Last week, Alvarez and Marsal, which is advising the mortgage lender, shortlisted four to five fund houses for the portfolio sale. Sicom, the government-owned term lending institution, invited bids on April 5 to sell 48 accounts with total debts of 9,724.5 crore. On April 17, Sidbi invited expressions of interest for the portfolio, which consists of five loan pools. On May 25, the lenders have proposed an e-auction. If the anchor bidder's offer is accepted, these lenders have proposed a Swiss challenge auction. Last year, Yes Bank sold almost ₹48,000 crore to JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Company, while Bandhan Bank sold ₹13,800 crore in two tranches to Kotak Mahindra Bank-backed Phoenix ARC. L&T Finance sold ₹2,707 crore of accounts to Avenue Capital-backed Asset Reconstruction Company of India. Also Read Patcher: A software tool for updating infrastructure as a code Sonu Nigam purchases two offices in Andheri, Mumbai