Reliance Communications has failed to attract any buyers for its non-core assets it put on sale in its undergoing insolvency proceedings. In March 2022, the company through its appointed resolution professional had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the committee of creditors had approved the sale of certain non-core assets of Reliance Communications.
The company invited an expression of interest (EoI) by April 17, 2022. The assets included land in Pune (871.1 sq metres) and Chennai (3.44 acres); offices in Chennai’s Haddows Road and Bhubaneswar; and shares of Campion Properties Limited and Reliance Realty. However, since the company failed to attract interest, there were extension of the deadline for submitting interest to bid multiple times, the latest being June 27, 2022.
The company was to approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for approval of sale of said assets on July 20, 2022, but with no interested parties it does not seem likely. As per sources, the company is contemplating for selling its enterprise business as well.
Meanwhile, the assets to be sold continue to depreciate. One of the key assets in the process is the spectrum owned by Reliance Communications. However, the Department of Telecommunications has argued that since spectrum is a national resource, it cannot be sold as part of the insolvency proceedings. Additionally, the company’s telecom licence expired in 2021, which means it does not have the right to use the spectrum it owns. Besides, the company’s other assets like the towers and underground fibre (under Reliance Infratel), which were to be sold to Reliance Projects and Properties Management Services, are also in a limbo since the State Bank of India declared Reliance Infratel’s accounts as fraudulent.
