NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Reliance Jio is believed to have deposited Rs 3,720 crore in an SBI escrow account to complete the acquisition of Reliance Infratel (RITL), under an insolvency process.
The deal, which is pending since November 2019, is likely to be finalised soon. In November 2019, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio placed a bid of Rs 3,720 crore to acquire assets of a debt-ridden subsidiary of his brother Anil Ambani’s firm Reliance Communications.
On March 4, 2022, the Committee of Creditors approved the resolution plan with a 100% vote. However, the implementation of the resolution plan was delayed due to the pendency of the proceedings over the distribution of the amount and issuance of the ‘no dues’ certificate. However, the matter of fund distribution is still pending in the Supreme court.
On November 6, Jio proposed to deposit Rs 3,720 crore in an escrow account to complete the acquisition. The company has also asked NCLT to speed up the acquisition of RITL as the delay in the acquisition of assets will deteriorate value.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio has bagged a deal from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for deploying its Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution across the oil company’s 7,200 retail outlets for a period of five years. “JioBusiness, the Enterprise arm of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd will be deploying and managing SD-WAN for IOCL across its 7,200 retail outlets for a period of 5 years,” said the company in a press note.