On January 20, 2021, CCI approved the proposed acquisition of 100% equity share capital of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (‘DHFL’) by India Opportunities Investments Singapore Pte. Ltd. (‘IOISPL’), through the insolvency process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.^[1]

IOISPL is a Singaporean company belonging to the Oaktree Group, which in turn is a leading global alternative investment management firm with expertise in credit strategies.

DHFL is an Indian deposit-taking non-banking financial company (‘NBFC’) and a housing finance corporation registered with the National Housing Board.

The transaction involved no overlaps between IOISPL and the Oaktree Group on one side, and DHFL on the other. However, CCI identified certain horizontal overlaps between DHFL and Indostar Capital Finance Limited (‘Indostar’), an investee company of Brookfield Group (a global alternative asset manager, which is a non-controlling investor in one of the entities of the Oaktree Group). DHFL and Indostar are engaged in the provision of loans and lending services. Their activities also overlap in the sub-segments of retail loans and wholesale loans.

CCI approved the transaction, finding no likely competitive foreclosure because in each overlapping segment, either the combined market shares of DHFL and Indostar were in the range of 0-5%, or the incremental market shares were insignificant.

[1] Combination Registration No. C-2020/12/791.