Oaktree to buy Dewan Housing Finance′s loans

Global alternative investment management firm Oaktree Capital Management LP has invested $194 million (Rs 1,375 crore) to buy loans from Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. The Mumbai-based deposit-taking mortgage lender said in a stock exchange filing that it raised the sum by securitisation of loans in its project finance portfolio. The transaction comes as a big breather to Dewan Housing, which came under scrutiny last year over concerns related to a liquidity crunch that plagued the broader non-banking financial sector after debt defaults by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). Kapil Wadhawan, chairman and managing director at Dewan Housing, said: “We recently committed to expeditiously bring down our project finance exposure. Within less than two months of making the above commitment, the company has consummated the above transaction that reduces its project finance book by about 8 per cent. "We will continue to focus on growing our retail lending franchise."