Jio Proposes To Deposit Rs 3,720 Cr To Acquire RCom’s Tower, Fibre Assets

The multi-billionaire Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani-run Jio has offered the bid of Rs 3,720 crore in November 2019 for the acquisition of Reliance Communications (RCOM). Jio said that inter-creditor disputes causing delay in acquisition of RITL assets will deteriorate the value of assets

The telecom operator Jio to affect Reliance Infratel’s (RITL) acquisition and proposed to deposit Rs 3,720 crore in an escrow account. Currently, Reliance Infratel is undergoing liquidation process.

The multi-billionaire Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani-run Jio has offered the bid of Rs 3,720 crore in November 2019 for the acquisition of Reliance Communications (RCOM). The tower and fibre asset of debt-ridden subsidiary is managed by his younger brother Anil Ambani.

In the last month, Jio’s subsidiary Reliance Projects and Property Management Services while filing an application before NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) said that the company is committed and willing to implement the resolution plan of Reliance Infratel. The same was approved by the committee of creditors (CoC) previously. 

Jio said that inter-creditor disputes causing delay in acquisition of RITL assets will deteriorate the value of assets.

The Jio’s arm during a fresh application before NCLT, Mumbai said, “In order to avoid any further delays, the applicant proposes to deposit the total resolution amount in an account with State Bank of India as was directed by this hon’ble tribunal in the plan approval order,”

RITL currently holds fibre assets of nearly 1.78 lakh route kilometers and 43,540 mobile towers across the country. For the tower and fibre assets of RCOM, RITL is the holding company.

Reliance Project and property Management Services Limited has placed a fresh application in the NCLT Mumbai to affect the acquisition process. It is a subsidiary of Jio, and the successful resolution applicant for RITL

As soon as the inter-creditors dispute over the distribution of resolution funds is settled amongst the lenders, the funds will be distributed amongst them. SBI along with few other banks such as Doha Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Emirates Bank, are involved in a legal battle regarding the distribution of funds.

Doha Bank, being the financial creditor, had challenged the classification of claims from the indirect creditors of RITL, by the resolution professional. The matter is pending at the Supreme Court.