Now, NCLT admits RCom’s petition for Aircel merger

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted Reliance Communications Ltd’s petition for its merger with telecom firm Aircel Ltd.

The court has also admitted RCom’s petition for a 51% stake sale in its telecom tower arm to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure group. While the court will issue final orders on September 13, in most cases admitting a petition is tantamount to approval said lawyers.

A spokesperson for RCom declined to comment as the matter is sub judice.

RCom’s stock jumped close to 16% following the news.

RCOM and Aircel had signed a definitive document for a proposed merger scheme of their respective wireless businesses on September 14, 2016.

The merger along with strategic stake sale in tower business will allow the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-led firm to pare about 60% of its total debt of ₹45,000 crore.The firm needs to complete its merger and stake sale in tower business by December.

In June, its creditors allowed the firm to postpone debt servicing payments till December after it presented this restructuring plan.

Separately, in NCLT, creditors who have given a conditional consent to the deal include State Bank of India, China Development Bank and other Indian banks.

Swedish network provider, Ericsson’s counsel filed an objection to the proposed merger deal, citing dues to the tune of ₹1,100 crore recoverable from Aircel.

The merger has already been approved by Securities and Exchange Board of India, Competition Commission of India and the exchanges .