Mumbai: Announcing a new debt resolution plan, Reliance Communication on Tuesday said the company would exit the Strategic Debt Restructuring plan (SDR) with a zero write-off to lenders and would slash its debt by Rs 25,000 crore through sale of some of its spectrum, tower and real estate assets.
“We have achieved full resolution for Reliance Communications. The resolution involves RCom exiting structured debt restructuring with no conversion of equity and zero write-off by lenders,” said Anil Ambani, chairman, RCom.
Upon completion of all deals as announced, the balance debt in RCom is expected to be Rs 6,000 crore only, representing reduction of over 85 per cent of the total debt. Following the announcement, the shares jumped 30.78 per cent on BSE.
Earlier, as part of the debt-restructuring plan, lenders had agreed to convert part of their debt (Rs 7,000 crore) to equity to gain a majority control (51 per cent) in the company.
He added that the repayment of debt would be completed in a phased manner between January to March 2018. The monetisation process is being carried out under the oversight of an independent high-powered bid evaluation committee headed by former RBI deputy governor S.S. Mundra.
RCom will receive equity infusion from global strategic partners for debt reduction, consequent upon a stake sale process that is already underway.
The commercial development of the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City campus will lead to reduction of RCom’s debt by a further Rs 10,000 crore, with the special purpose vehicle holding the realty assuming non-recourse long-term debt financing of the said amount.
The total development potential as per prevailing regulations is estimated at over 20 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space, the company said.
RCom’s continuing operations will comprise stable and profitable B2B-focused businesses, including Indian and global enterprise, internet data centres and the largest private submarine cable network in the world.
