As per industry sources, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Bharti Airtel, I Squared Capital, Varde Partners and UV Asset Reconstruction have submitted bids for assets of Reliance Communications (RCOM) and its two units.
November 25, 2019, was the last day to submit bids.
Furthermore, Airtel and Bharti Infratel, which had earlier bid together for RCOM assets, have most likely bid jointly again. Earlier, that bid had been withdrawn in protest against the deadline extension made on the request of Reliance Jio.
RCOM’s assets include spectrum, towers, fibre, data centres and real estate housed under its subsidiaries Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.
The sale of spectrum is still believed to be under discussions. Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had said that the airwaves cannot be sold without the government’s approval. However, the bankers had argued that the spectrum asset was pledged to them and so they can sell it.
China Development Bank, Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Exim Bank of China and Bank of Baroda are among the 41 creditors to the company.
RCOM owed its financial creditors Rs 491.93 billion at the time of being taken to bankruptcy court in May 2018.
Moreover, RCOM’s subsidiaries, Reliance Telecom Limited and Reliance Infratel Limited owe financial creditors Rs 243.06 billion and Rs 126.87 billion, respectively. Thus, RCOM collectively owes debtors Rs 861.87 billion at a consolidated level. This is over and above the Rs 288.37 billion it owes to the DoT in spectrum dues and other charges as well as the amounts it has to pay its operational creditors.
