Anil Ambani Eyes Rs 19,000 Crore From Sale of Tower Business In October
Anil Ambani eyes Rs 19,000 crore from sale of Reliance Communications’ tower business.
Reliance Communication Ltd. is eyeing around Rs 19,000 crore from the sale of its tower business when it consummates the deal in October, the management told analysts while addressing the contours of the merger with Aircel during a conference call on Thursday.
Deleveraging Balancesheet
Transfer of the wireless business and sale of the tower business are seen as attempts by Reliance Communications to de-leverage its balancesheet. The company had a total debt of Rs 47,000 crore on its books as of June 30. As part of the Aircel transaction, the company will transfer Rs 14,000 crore of bank debt and an additional Rs 6,000 crore of deferred spectrum liability to the new merged entity.
Valuing Tower Business
While the exact valuation parameters of the tower deal are yet to be finalised, the sale of tower business is expected to reduce debt to around Rs 9,000 crore by the end of the financial year 2016-17, Reliance Communications said.
The tower business should thereby get a valuation of Rs 19,000 crore, the company added in its conference call.
Reliance Communications’ tower business consists of 43,379 towers, located in 22 circles in India and supported by an optical fibre cable (OFC) network of over 190,000 kilometers, the company had said in a presentation in November. It has entered into a nation-wide tower sharing agreement with Reliance Jio for 15 years.