DHFL 9.30% Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) – August 2016 Issue

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at skukreja@investitude.co.in

After the successful issue of Edelweiss Housing Finance Limited (EHFL), DHFL, or Dewan Housing Finance Limited, is coming out with its issue of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) from the coming Wednesday i.e. August 3, 2016. These NCDs will carry coupon rates in the range of 8.83% to 9.30%, resulting in an effective yield of 9.20% to 9.30% for the individual investors.

Though the issue is scheduled to close on August 16, it is likely that it will get oversubscribed prior to its closing date. Given a bumper response to the Edelweiss Housing Finance NCDs issue, there should be a reasonably high demand for this issue as well.

Before we take a decision whether to invest in this issue or not, let’s first check the salient features of this issue.

Size & Objective of the Issue – The company plans to raise Rs. 4,000 crore from this issue, including the green shoe option of Rs. 3,000 crore. The company plans to use the issue proceeds for its lending and financing activities, to repay interest and principal of its existing borrowings and other general corporate purposes.

Coupon Rate & Tenor of the Issue – The issue will carry coupon rate of 9.20% p.a. for a period of 3 years (36 months), 9.25% p.a. for 5 years (60 months) and 9.30% p.a. for 10 years (120 months). Investors will have the option to receive interest on a monthly, annual or cumulative basis.

CPI Linked Floating Interest Rate NCDs – This is the most unique feature of this issue. The company has decided to offer CPI-linked floating interest rate to its Series X NCD investors and there will be a ‘Floor’ as well as a ‘Cap’ on the interest rate. Floor has been set at 8.90% p.a. and Cap at 9.50% p.a. The specified spread will be 4.18% p.a. for Category III & Category IV investors. For the first year, reference CPI has got calculated at 5.02% p.a., so it is 5.02% + 4.18% = 9.20%.

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Suppose, we have 4.72% as the reference CPI for the next year. In that case, the rate of interest will be 8.90% for the second year.

Categories of Investors & Allocation Ratio – The investors have been classified in the following three categories and each category will have the below mentioned percentage fixed in the allotment:

Category I – Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIBs) – 20% of the issue i.e. Rs. 800 crore

Category II – Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) – 20% of the issue i.e. Rs. 800 crore

Category III – High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs) including HUFs – 30% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 1,200 crore

Category IV – Resident Indian Individuals including HUFs – 30% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 1,200 crore

Allotment on First Come First Served Basis – Subject to the allocation ratio, allotment will be made on a first come first served (FCFS) basis in each of the investor categories, based on the date of upload of each application into the electronic system of the stock exchanges.

NRIs Not Allowed – Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), foreign nationals and qualified foreign investors (QFIs) among others are not eligible to invest in this issue.

Credit Rating & Nature of NCDs – CARE and Brickwork Ratings have rated this issue as ‘AAA’ with a ‘Stable’ outlook. Moreover, these NCDs will be ‘Secured’ in nature.

Listing, Premature Withdrawal & Put/Call Option – These NCDs will get listed on both the national exchanges i.e. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as well as National Stock Exchange (NSE). The listing will take place within 12 working days after the issue gets closed. Though there is no option of a premature redemption, the investors can always sell these bonds on the exchanges.

Demat, Physical Application – Demat account is not mandatory to invest in these NCDs as the investors have the option to apply for these NCDs in physical or certificate form as well.

TDS – Though the interest income would be taxable with these bonds, NCDs taken in demat form will not attract any TDS. The investor will have to pay tax on the interest income while filing his/her income tax return.

Should you invest in DHFL NCDs?

In 2013-14, when G-Sec yield was ruling above 9%, investors were scared to invest in debt securities due to negative returns on their investments. With falling yields on Government Securities (G-Secs) and corporate bonds, interest rates on various investment products like fixed deposits (FDs), post office small saving schemes, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and tax-free bonds have all fallen by 1% to 2.5% in the last two years or so.

Now, with a fall in bond yields and 15-20% appreciation in bond prices, investors are chasing theses debt investments. But, I think that period of making easy money is over now and it would be very difficult for us to have similar returns going forward. Investors should not expect returns in double digits now on.

That being said, these rates of 9.20% to 9.30% do not attract me much, despite the issue being rated as ‘AAA’ by the rating agencies. I would rather prefer SBI NCDs yielding ~8.50% or Tax-Free Bonds yielding ~7% or equity mutual funds earning an average annual return of 15% or so. Conservative investors should avoid these NCDs and explore other options like post office saving schemes, tax-free bonds, debt mutual funds or other listed NCDs.

Investors, who are not required to pay any tax on their annual taxable income or who fall in the 10% tax bracket or who have high degree of confidence in the execution capabilities of DHFL’s management, can consider investing in these NCDs for a period of 3 years or at max 5 years. I personally avoid longer term investment periods with private companies, so would advise my clients too to avoid the 10-year option in this case.

Application Form of DHFL NCDs

Note: As per SEBI guidelines, ‘Bidding’ is mandatory before banking the application form, else the application is liable to get rejected. For bidding of your application, any further info or to invest in DHFL NCDs, you can reach us at +919811797407

106 thoughts on “DHFL 9.30% Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) – August 2016 Issue”

  1. Day 1 (August 3) Subscription Figures:

    Category I – Rs. 4,947.80 crore as against Rs. 800 crore reserved – 6.18 times
    Category II – Rs. 2,666.03 crore as against Rs. 800 crore reserved – 3.33 times
    Category III – Rs. 9,321.69 crore as against Rs. 1,200 crore reserved – 7.77 times
    Category IV – Rs. 1,856.08 crore as against Rs. 1,200 crore reserved – 1.55 times
    Total Subscription – Rs. 18,791.60 crore as against total issue size of Rs. 4,000 crore – 4.70 times

    1. Its oversubscribed overall. Its oversubscribed in all categories except category 2. But 30 more mins to go…

  2. bse site is showing 3 times issue has been subscribe til now please comferm thi shiv and how many times on nse this issue has been subscribe till now because I will be subscribe this issue on the basis of till 2am supscription figures so please give latest supscription figures please shiv

  3. Dear Shiv,
    pls explain what is the meaning of effective yield , as in case monthly interest for 5 years is 8.88% but effective yield is 9.25% .pls explain in brief.
    thanks

  4. thank u Mr.Shiv for detailed review once again. Kudos to your good work.
    well i have applied for few NCD in 5 years monthly option.
    regards
    abhinav .

  5. my agent is giving me 0.70 incentive back on 10 years monthly & 0.60 on 5 years option so even if these ncd list at 993 or below issue price then also I am not in a loss so should I go for it dear shiv

    1. Interest in Series X will be paid annually. Series VII will have cumulative interest and Series X will have annual interest which would be variable and fall between 8.90% & 9.50%.

    1. Thanks a lot Amit for pointing it out, I just overlooked this info! I have made the required corrections in the post. I too think there is very little scope of any listing gains with this issue, not only due to its issue size, but also due to lower coupon rates on offer.

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