Reliance Communications receives several bids for 51 per cent stake in tower unit

Mumbai: Reliance Communications Ltd, India's fourth-biggest mobile phone carrier, said it had received non-binding bids from a number of interested buyers for the sale of a majority stake in Reliance Infratel, its tower unit. Reliance Communications' shares jumped more than 4 percent after the announcement.

The company, the most leveraged Indian telecommunications carrier with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of almost five times, has been talking about a plan to sell a stake in its tower unit as it focuses on its core business. A formal process for the sale of a controlling 51 per cent stake in its tower unit was launched a few weeks back. On Monday, Reliance Communications said it had short-listed a number of "very credible interested parties to progress to the next round of the process," but did not name any interested parties.

The company said sale proceeds from the proposed transaction was expected to reduce its overall gross debt during the current financial year substantially. Reliance Communications had a net debt of 386 billion rupees ($5.91 billion) at the end of June, up from 367.3 billion rupees as of March 31.