ADVERTISEMENT

RCom Calls Off Sale Of Assets To Reliance Jio

Sale of assets was crucial for the Anil Ambani group company to repay more than half of its Rs 47,000-crore debt.



Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications Ltd., at a news conference. (Photographer: Adeel Halim/ Bloomberg News)
Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications Ltd., at a news conference. (Photographer: Adeel Halim/ Bloomberg News)

Reliance Communications Ltd., having voluntarily decided to approach the insolvency court, called off the sale of its spectrum and towers to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. as it failed to get approvals from lenders and the government.

Anil Ambani group company mutually terminated its agreement with the operator owned by his elder brother Mukesh Ambani for the sale of certain specified telecom assets, the company said in an exchange filing. The deal was crucial for the group to repay more than half of its Rs 47,000-crore debt.

The transaction has “become incapable of being consummated” due to various factors and developments that have happened since a deal was announced 15 months ago, RCom said. “RCom Group is committed to a comprehensive resolution of their overall debt, with transparency, certainly and finality, through the NCLT process.”

The reasons cited by RCom for calling off the deal were:

  • Non-receipt of consents and objections from RCom's more than 40 foreign and Indian lenders to the proposed transactions despite over 45 meetings.
  • Non-receipt of permissions and approvals from the Department of Telecom.
  • The decisions taken by the RCom board at its meeting on Feb. 1, 2019 to fast track overall debt through National Company Law Tribunal.
  • The applications filed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Feb.4 for withdrawal of appeals against the admission of RCom to the NCLT debt resolution process and the reinstatement of the process.
  • Order passed by NCLAT restraining sale, transfer or alienation of any property of RCom.
  • Statements of lenders saying it is not possible for them to sell specified assets and therefore NCLT process should be reinstated.
Opinion
Reliance Communications Pays Rs 458.77 Crore To Ericsson