Mumbai: An appeals tribunal (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) on Wednesday put on hold insolvency proceedings against Reliance Communications (RCom), after the debt-laden telecom carrier reached a settlement with Swedish telecom gearmaker Ericsson.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in New Delhi has asked RCom to pay Ericsson Rs 550 crore ($81.52 million) by end-September as part of the settlement.The settlement potentially paves the way for the Anil Ambani-controlled telecom operator to sell its wireless assets including mobile masts and airwaves to Reliance Jio Infocomm in a deal sources have said is worth $3.8 billion.
However, the settlement looked unlikely until a few days ago.
the sources had revealed then that due to lack of clarity over payment of dues, the deal was unlikely to get through.RCom had filed and appeal with the NCLAT, after the National Company Law Tribunal, earlier this month, admitted an insolvency plea against the company that was filed by Ericsson.Ericsson, which signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network, was seeking Rs 1,155 crore ($171.16 million) from the company and two of its subsidiaries.
It is noteworthy that NCLT on May 15 accepted the insolvency petition filed by Swedish company Ericsson against the Reliance Communications (RCom).
However, a month before that, RCom had secured the Tribunal's nod to sell some tower, fibre busines.
The RCom shares closed 9.7 per cent higher at Rs 17.5 on Wednesday.
Thomson Reuters 2018