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RCom shares jump 15.5% after Supreme Court clears its asset sale to Reliance Jio

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the decks for the Anil Ambani-led telecom firm’s proposed asset sale to elder brother Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd by directing Reliance Realty, a subsidiary of Reliance Communication Ltd (RCom), to furnish ₹1,400 crore as corporate guarantee to the government within two weeks. This corporate guarantee will be in addition to the land parcel, which has to be put up as security, according to an October order of the Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

RCom share price surged as much as 15.49% to ₹14.72 on the news—its biggest intraday percent gain since 1 November. The stock had lost 64.7% this year as of last close.

The court also asked the Centre to grant a no-objection certificate for the RCom-Jio deal within a week of receiving the corporate guarantee.

The Centre had approached the apex court to challenge a 1 October TDSAT order, which rejected the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plea seeking bank guarantees before approving the RCom-Jio deal. The tribunal had also asked RCom to not sell a land parcel worth ₹1,400 crore so that it could be furnished as a guarantee against the government’s demand for dues.

Kapil Sibal, lawyer for RCom, opposed the idea of furnishing a bank guarantee as sought by the Centre because the company was undergoing insolvency proceedings. He agreed that Reliance Realty would provide a corporate guarantee instead.

He also sought the no objection certificate to be granted in time. “If the NOC is not given in time, they will lose ₹10,900 crore,” Sibal said.

Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha opposed the furnishing of land parcels, telling the court that these did not belong to RCom. “Please see if this security is enough. We can’t go from pillar to post to recover money… One has to look at titles and the deal,” he said.

The Centre had on 26 November approached the Supreme Court to reiterate its demand for ₹2,940 crore in bank guarantees from RCom for its spectrum liabilities before clearing its proposed asset sale to Reliance Jio.

The Centre had approached the apex court to challenge the TDSAT order on 1 October that rejected the DoT plea seeking bank guarantees before approving the RCom-Jio deal.

Narasimha told the apex court that the Centre was looking for some kind of security for the outstanding spectrum dues. He said the Centre did not have details of encumbrance of the land offered by RCom as guarantee.

Narasimha further argued that the telecom guidelines clearly mandated the government to secure outstanding dues through bank guarantees and no other method.

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