RJio Submits Bids For RCom Assets

Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJio), a company controlled by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has placed bids for the assets of debt-laden Reliance Communications (RCom) on Monday.

“RJio has placed its bids today,” a source close to the development said, but did not provide further details.

This follows an extension given to the company by the Committee of Creditors (CoC), who had extended the deadline to another 10 days to enable RJio place bids.

On November 13, RCom had received bids from firms including Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel and PE firm Varde Partners. RCom, which is undergoing insolvency proceedings, has a total secured debt of about Rs 33,000 crore.

However, RJio did not place its bid, but had sought a 10-day extension.

Later on November 17, Bharti Airtel withdrew its bid citing extension of deadline as unfair.

The CoC comprises about 40 lenders, including the State Bank of India, the China Development Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

RCom’s assets include spectrum, tower, fibre, media convergence nodes and real estate, housed under its subsidiaries Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.

In 2018, RJio entered into an agreement with RCom to buy its assets that included 43,000 telecom towers and 1.78-lakh route km fibre and use spectrum, a deal that failed to go through.

In December 2017, Mukesh Ambani emerged as the white knight and announced the acquisition of the debt-laden RCom through RJio, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Later, in March this year, RCom and Reliance Industries mutually called off that deal, citing lack of regulatory approvals.—The Hindu Business Line