Reliance Communications calls off Aircel merger due to regulatory uncertainty

NewsBharati    02-Oct-2017
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Mumbai, October 2: Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications called off a merger with Aircel. Reliance Communications will now evaluate another plan for its mobile business by focusing on the 4G LTE market.

"Legal and regulatory uncertainties and various interventions by vested interests have caused inordinate delays in receipt of relevant approvals for the proposed transaction," the firm said in a statement.

 

The merger of mobile business of RCom and Aircel lapses with mutual consent Rcom and Aircel Limited (Aircel) had signed binding agreements in September 2016 for the merger of Rcom's mobile businesses with Aircel, the company said in a filing to stock exchange.

The company said it also has valuable spectrum across 800/900/1800/2100 Mhz spectrum bands aggregating 200 Mhz, valued at over Rs 19,000 crore for the balance of validity period, based on last auction pricing. R-Com will evaluate opportunities for monetization of the same through trading and sharing arrangements.

The merger with Aircel and sale of its tower unit to Brookfield would have brought down R-Com’s debt by Rs 25,000 crore, or 60 percent of the total debt which stands at Rs 47,332 crore.

R-Com had said that bankers agreed to give seven months extension till December this year under the Reserve Bank of India's Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) plan.

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