Reliance Communications on Thursday said that it has received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the sale of the Tower Division of Reliance Infratel Limited to Brookfield Infrastructure Group.
The sale will be carried out pursuant to a demerger of the Tower Division to Towercom Infrastructure Private Limited (Towerco), which will be the second largest independent and operator-neutral towers company in India after Indus Towers.
Upon the completion of the demerger, though a Scheme of Arrangement and the conclusion of certain other conditions and approvals, Rapid Holdings 2 Pte. Ltd., a company which is a part of the Brookfield Infrastructure Group will acquire 100% of Towercom Infrastructure Private Limited.
RCom had last year inked a deal with Brookfield Group to sell a 51% stake in Reliance Infratel for Rs 11,000 crore.
RCom said that it has already filed an application with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench, for approval of the said Scheme of Arrangement. Post closing, the Company will receive ‘B’ Class Non-voting shares in Towerco providing 49% future economic upside from the business based on certain conditions, it said in a statement.
Separately, Nettle Infrastructure Investment Ltd will acquire 21.63 percent stake in Bharti Infratel from parent Bharti Airtel on or after March 27. Nettle Infrastructure, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, will buy 40 crore equity shares of Bharti Infratel from the parent for an estimated Rs 12,400 crore.
RCom is closing towards a merger with Aircel, which will make it as the third largest telecom network in India behind Vodafone-Idea merged entity and Bharti Airtel-Telenor merged entity. The merger is expected to be finished by October 2017. RCom also had a deal with MTS India and the merger between them is supposed to be completed by March 2017.
