RCom lenders might recover just a fourth of their loans after asset sale

• Airtel has made an upfront ₹9,500 crore offer for all of Rcomm’s assets.
• Mukesh Ambani’s Jio has only offered a ₹3,600 crore cash payment.
• But even the highest bid is still just one fourth of the company’s debt of ₹46,000 crore.

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications has received bids from Airtel, Jio and others for its assets. While that is good news for shareholders, the amounts they receive show that its many lenders might recover only a sliver of the massive ₹46,000 crore debt.

The highest bid was by Bharti Airtel which made a ₹9,500 crore upfront offer, sources told $4 Meanwhile Anil Ambani’s elder brother Mukesh Ambani’s Jio has offered ₹3,600 crore as cash payment, but hasn’t bid on spectrum or real estate assets.

The others who bid include UV Asset Reconstruction and US-based equity fund Varde Partners.

Rcom’s assets include airwaves in 14 telecom circles, 43,000 telecom towers, licence for its 800 MHz 4G spectrum--that is set to expire in July 2021. RCom’s real estate assets are also up for offer.

Lenders have been trying to sell all of its assets at one go, instead of auctioning each asset individually.

Reliance Communications slipped into bankruptcy in May this year, after which resolution professionals took over the company. It had been losing customers for years before due to extreme competition and an excessive debt that ate into its equity value as well.

It had tried to sell its assets to Jio earlier this year but it could not go through after Ericsson filed a case in courts on non-payment of $4.

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