NEW DELHI: The final fate of beleaguered former billionaire Anil Ambani’s telecom venture—Reliance Communications (RCom)—will become clearer on Wednesday when the National Company law Tribunal (NCLT) is set to give its verdict on whether the proposed takeover of assets by two interested buyers can go ahead.
Among the two buyers is Anil’s brother Mukesh Ambani’s telecom and digital business powerhouse Reliance Jio, which is planning to take over RCom’s mobile tower assets.
The other bidder is asset resolution company UV Asset Resolution Co Ltd (UVARCL), which has proposed to buy Anil Ambani’s actual telecom firm RCom and Reliance Telecom Infrastructure Ltd.
According to sources, the insolvency court will hear the resolution plan russled up for RCom’s units on Wednesday and may give its go ahead for the same, especially since the plan has been approved by the majority of the company’s lenders.
UVARCL is already set to take over yet another bankrupt telecom firm Aircel’s assets, having received the NCLT’s approval earlier.
Once regulatory approvals are given, the company will acquire all of Aircel’s assets. As for RCom, tower company Reliance Infratel will go to Reliance Jio for a deal worth around Rs 20,000-22,000 crore, which will be paid over a period of seven years.
The total assets of RCom and its units when it went bankrupt included airwaves in the 850 MHz band for 14 of the 22 telecom circles in India, around 43,000 telecom towers, fibre and data centres under Reliance Telecom.
RCom had an overall debt of Rs 46,000 crore heading into insolvency, with a total of 53 financial creditors across local and foreign banks, NBFCs and funds.
Operational creditors such as tower companies, equipment vendors and even the Department of Telecom have added to the claims of financial creditors, at over Rs 21,000 crore worth verified.