MUMBAI: Amid insolvency proceedings, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) has been offered the highest upfront cash of Rs 9500 crore by Bharti Airtel for its assets.
A source privy to the development said these assets include towers, data centres, spectrum, fibre and real estate, according to a report in Mint. "The conditions put forth could reduce the viability of Airtel’s bid," said the source. However, the conditions put forth could not be ascertained.
An Airtel spokesperson had earlier confirmed the conditional offer.
Though the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio had agreed to acquire RCom's assets including its spectrum last year, it did not make a bid this time.
Jio's attempted acquisition of 178,000 route km of optic fibre and 43,000 telecom towers last year failed to gain clearance from the government.
RCom had a debt of over Rs 49,000 crore while being taken to a bankruptcy court in May last year, with its assets split across RCom, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.
The source added that UV Asset Reconstruction Company had also offered a bid of Rs 12,700 crore staggered over several years but its net present value was only Rs 9000 crore.
The deadline for submission of bids was November 25 after it was extended by 10 days.