Reliance Communications reworking tower deal with Brookfield

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications is renegotiating its deal with Canadian investment fund Brookfield along with other potential buyers for a stake in its tower unit, the telecom company said on Tuesday.

The Anil Ambani-controlled company disclosed this in a regulatory filing, after stock exchanges sought clarification from RCom on an ET report that said the Brookfield deal in its earlier form had been called off. RCom shares closed 1.89% lower at Rs 15.55 Tuesday on the BSE, where the benchmark Sensex fell 1.07%.

"The company is renegotiating the tower transactions with all the interested parties, including Brookfield Infrastructure Group," RCom said in the filing. The telco said the merger of its wireless division with Aircel was a condition for the tower transaction with Brookfield. The RCom-Aircel deal was called off on October 1.

Four days ago, asset management firm Brookfield said the $200 million deal with RCom was called off, but it would "continue to monitor the evolving situation to determine if revised terms can be agreed upon".

Brookfield said it was being "patient" in pursuing the RCom deal and "several other potential opportunities in this sector". RCom's clarification comes a day after it missed an interest payment on its bonds.

The company said it is not making any payments of interest or principal to its lenders and bondholders. RCom said it is in a standstill period under a strategic debt restructuring programme that it has agreed to with lenders.

This allows it to halt payments of all loan obligations till December 2018, it said. On Tuesday, the price of the $300 million, 6.5%, securities on which the telco owed the interest payment slid 1.7 cents to a record low of 39.4 cents, as per price data on Bloomberg.

About $9.75 million of interest payment was due on Monday, according to the data. The telecom operator is going through a strategic debt restructuring. It recently presented a "zero write-off" plan to lenders, under which lenders could swap a part of the company's Rs 45,000 crore debt for a 51% equity stake. It could then raise funds by selling towers and spectrum to potential buyers, including Reliance Jio Infocomm that has shown interest in its airwaves, and monetise real estate assets, the company said.

On Monday, RCom announced also that it inked a pact with Veecon Media & Television for the sale of subsidiary Reliance BIG TV, which offers direct to home services across India.