NEW DELHI: Reliance Communications has said that it has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), BSE and National Stock Exchange to spin off and merge its wireless division into Aircel.
RCom has filed an application with the National Company Law Tribunal Mumbai Bench, for approval of the scheme. After closing of the deal, RCom and the present shareholders of Aircel (Maxis Communications Berhad) will hold 50 per cent each in the merged entity, with equal representation on the board and committees, the company added.
“Reliance Communications has received the approval of Sebi, BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India for the proposed Scheme of Arrangement for demerger of the Wireless division of the Company into Aircel and Dishnet Wireless,” a company statement read. The proposed transaction is subject to necessary approvals, it added.
RCom has a customer base of 95 million including 2.6 million overseas retail customers. Its
corporate clientele include 39,000 Indian and multinational corporations including small and medium enterprises and 290 global, regional and domestic carriers.
In September last year, RCom had announced its decision to merge its wireless telecom business with Aircel to create the country’s fourth biggest mobile phone operator with asset base of more than Rs 65,000 crore and net worth of Rs 35,000 crore.
According to the deal, both the companies will transfer Rs 14,000 crore of debt each to the joint venture, taking the total debt of the new company to Rs 28,000 crore. The transaction will reduce RCom’s debt by Rs 20,000 crore, while Aircel’s debt would go down by Rs 4,000 crore on closing in 2017. The RCom scrip was trading 1.93 per cent higher at Rs 36.95 on the BSE on Wednesday.