Investors holding bonds worth US$ 300 million in Reliance Communications (RCom) have approved the sale of its assets to Reliance Jio in a meeting held in London, the company reported to BSE India. The bondholders also approved the release of their security on RCom’s assets and agreed to accept part prepayment of their outstanding bonds which were due to mature in 2020. Sale of RCom’s real estate assets in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, Navi Mumbai was also approved, and the company's final residual financial debt is expected to be up to Rs 7000 crore (US$1,079 million). Noteholders holding in aggregate 44% of the bond worth were present at the meeting, with 81% of the votes being cast in favour of the resolutions. The Competition Commission of India, which is a statutory body of the government responsible for preventing activities have an effect on competition, also recently gave a go-ahead to the deal. Trouble remains Despite stakeholder approval, the deal cannot be executed yet. This is because many companies have filed cases against RCom for recovering their dues. These include Fortuna Public Relations, which claims the RCom owes it Rs 47.65 lakh; Manipal Technologies which has moved to recover Rs 2.74 crore; and Tech Mahindra, which has agreed to settle out of court for Rs 8.2 crore. US-based communications company Avaya has moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Reliance Communications (RCom) in an attempt to recover dues worth Rs 7.5 crore. Swedish company Ericsson also moved an Indian arbitration…
