Mukesh Ambani-led 4G entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm has reportedly emerged the front-runner to acquire the assets of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom), including the ailing telco's spectrum assets in the 850 MHz and 2100 MHz band. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have already shown interest in RCom's spectrum in the 900 MHz band.
“RJio is leading the talks to acquire all assets RCom intends to sell, while a number of Private Equity (PE) firms and other strategic investors are also in the fray. The company is also in talks with foreign lenders for co-development of its Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) campus in Navi Mumbai,” a source familiar with the matter told BusinessLine.
The report said that RCom's spectrum, which Jio is eyeing, will be valued at about Rs 19,000 crore for the remainder of the licence period. Jio is also in advanced stages of discussions to acquire RCom’s telecom tower portfolio, along with optic fibre network, it added.
The Anil Ambani-led telco has 850 MHz spectrum in all 22 circles, 2100 MHz spectrum in 13 circles and 900 MHz in 2 circles.
According to a separate The Hindu story, the joint lenders forum (JLF) met in Mumbai on Thursday and discussed the sale of assets of RCom and a proposal to convert RCom’s debt into equity. The JLF is still evaluating them and plans to convert a majority of debt into equity.
Previously, various reports said that Canadian pension fund Brookfield, and a number of private equity firms have also shown interest in RCom's assets.
Reliance Communications has recently announced that it's shutting down the business in the country for not able to compete with 4G players such as Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone.
