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Mukesh may profit from brother’s woes

Asia’s richest man likely to buy company assets at a discount

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NEW DELHI: Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani’s decision to end a deal with his brother – even as he bailed him out – may be an astute business move.

While helping keep his sibling out of prison this week, Mukesh also ditched an accord to buy the assets of his brother’s beleaguere­d telecom carrier Reliance Communicat­ions Ltd, effectivel­y nudging it toward bankruptcy.

With RCom all but sure to head into insolvency proceeding­s, Mukesh may be able to snag those same assets at a discount.

In a last-minute rescue on Monday, Mukesh stepped in to help younger brother Anil pay US$80mil in dues to a local unit of Ericsson AB and avert a three-month jail sentence.

On the same day, his Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Anil’s RCom terminated a 2017 deal that had helped the latter stave off bankruptcy.

With that deal now off, RCom is likely to go into a court-led process that may provide Mukesh’s Jio another shot at buying up the carrier’s airwaves, towers and fibre.

What’s more, he may get them for less than the 173 billion rupees (US$2.5bil) Jio agreed to pay a year ago given the weak financial health of India’s other telecom operators.

“Jio may have scrapped the asset purchase deal with RCom, but it cannot be ruled out that Jio will try and participat­e in the purchase,” under the bankruptcy process, said Saurav Kumar, a New Delhi-based partner at IndusLaw, an Indian law firm. That “may eventually be cheaper for Jio.”

A lower price for RCom’s assets would mean deeper haircuts for lenders trying to recover some of the US$7bil in debt the unprofitab­le operator had as of March 2018.

“India’s bleeding telecom sector will probably keep auction prices low,” allowing Jio to spend less on acquiring RCom’s spectrum, Kunal Agrawal, a Bloomberg Intelligen­ce analyst said in a March 19 note.

Jio’s debut in 2016 with free services slashed tariffs, forcing rivals into a brutal price war, where some merged while others quit or went bankrupt.

Vodafone Idea Ltd, India’s No. 1 carrier, continues to report losses while Bharti Airtel Ltd, the second-biggest, has posted profits aided by one-time gains.

Bharti Airtel’s tower unit Bharti Infratel Ltd and Canadian private equity fund Brookfield Asset Management have shown interest in RCom’s tower assets, Business Standard reported citing sources it didn’t name.

Jio’s strength is buttressed by cash flows from parent Reliance Industries Ltd’s petrochemi­cals and refining businesses.

Emails seeking comments from spokespers­ons at Reliance Industries and RCom went unanswered.

RCom on Monday reiterated that it was “committed to a comprehens­ive resolution” of its overall debt through India’s bankruptcy process.

A lack of approvals from over 40 Indian and foreign lenders over 15 months was cited as one of the reasons for killing the Jio deal, according to a RCom statement, besides other regulatory delays.

Under bankruptcy proceeding­s, a court-appointed insolvency profession­al and panel of secured creditors will invite bids for RCom’s assets and oversee the sale process.

About two-third of the creditors will need to agree to any resolution plan.

“It’s likely that bankers may approve a deal with some significan­t haircuts,” given the insolvency law doesn’t require consensus, IndusLaw’s Kumar said.

A year ago lenders had hoped for a very different outcome when Anil Ambani promised there would be no write-offs or equity conversion­s as his company neared asset sales.

Earlier in 2017, he had promised RCom’s debt-reduction plan would be the largest in India’s history.

None of that went as planned. Banks were this month reprimande­d by a judge for failing to crack down on RCom and better scrutinise the ambitious recovery picture it had painted.

“It takes two hands to clap,” said Justice SJ Mukhopadha­ya of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

“You have also failed. You can’t just say they (RCom) failed.”

 ?? — Reuters ?? Better deal: Mukesh’s company Reliance Jio Infocomm may get to buy Anil’s Reliance Communicat­ions assets for less than the US$2.5bil Jio agreed to pay a year ago.
— Reuters Better deal: Mukesh’s company Reliance Jio Infocomm may get to buy Anil’s Reliance Communicat­ions assets for less than the US$2.5bil Jio agreed to pay a year ago.

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