UK High Court to set terms in Chinese banks’ claim against Anil Ambani

Ambani denies providing authority for any such guarantee, resulting in the High Court action in the UK – the jurisdiction agreed to as part of the terms of the loan agreement

The High Court of England and Wales here on Friday will set the terms for the “conditional order” of a payment into court it had granted to three Chinese banks last year against Reliance Communications boss Anil Ambani. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd Mumbai Branch, on behalf of itself, China Development Bank and Exim Bank of China, had sought summary judgment against Ambani over an alleged breach of a personal guarantee on a debt refinancing loan of around $925 million in February 2012.

Ambani denies providing authority for any such guarantee, resulting in the High Court action in the UK – the jurisdiction agreed to as part of the terms of the loan agreement. At the last hearing in the case in December last year, Justice David Waksman said he was “very nearly prepared” to grant judgment against Ambani because he found the Reliance Communications (RCom) chief’s evidence “inexplicably incomplete, implausible and highly unlikely”.

“I think it is highly probable that at trial his defence will be shown to be opportunistic and false… I consider that this is a plain case for the making of a conditional order,” Justice Waksman said, as he granted a conditional order in principle to the Chinese banks. The order means the Commercial Division of the High Court will hear arguments this week on Ambani’s financial means and set an appropriate amount as an effective court deposit, pending a full trial in the case…

Reliance, Bharti Airtel, 2 others bid for 3 Anil Ambani group companies

11 offers submitted for RCom, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel

Four companies, including Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group and Bharti Airtel, on Monday collectively submitted 11 bids for three Anil Ambani group companies, which are up for sale as going concerns as part of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process.

The three companies for sale are Reliance Communications (RCom), Reliance Telecom (which holds the spectrum), and Reliance Infratel (which controls the tower and fibre assets). RCom also owns real estate and enterprise businesses. The bids were opened by the committee of creditors, which held a meeting that continued until late night on Monday in Mumbai. It will meet again on Friday to discuss and possibly finalise the winning bids for the three companies

The value of the financial bids as well as which companies they have bid for, however, could not be ascertained. The two other bidders include Varde Partners and Delhi-based U V Asset Reconstruction Company (UVRCL). The latter had earlier won its sole bid for the Aircel group (which was also under the IBC) for Rs 150 crore. However, it is unclear as to whether UVRCL will eventually bring in a telecom or infrastructure partner to join in later. A Reliance Jio spokesperson did not respond to a query and an e-mail to UVARCL remained unanswered.

Reliance likely to make bid for RCom and its related companies today

Bharti Airtel also likely to reconsider its decision and bid

Having asked for a 10-day extension from a Resolution Professional, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group is expected to make a bid for his brother Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) and its related companies on Monday.

The companies are up for grabs as going concerns from the Anil Ambani stable under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process. They include RCom, Reliance Telecom (which has the spectrum), and Reliance Telecom Infrastructure which houses the tower and fibre assets. Rcom also has subsidiaries which control its real estate and data centre businesses. The bids close on Monday and it is expected that the committee of creditors will open them on the same day for discussions.

The structure of how the bid will be made is not clear as, under the regulatory rules, a bid by Reliance Jio (which is not a listed entity) acquiring RCom (a listed entity) would require the former to merge the latter. Yet that is clearly not acceptable to the group which is looking at coming out with a separate IPO for Jio. An e-mail to Jio elicited no response. It is also expected that Bharti Airtel, which had complained to the Resolution Professional that the extension given to Mukesh Ambani was unfair and had withdrawn its offer, might reconsider and also bid.

The others expected to put in bids include US-based PE fund Varde Partners, I Squared Capital (for Reliance Communication’s data centres and optic fibre assets), and Delhi-based UV Asset Reconstruction Company. The latter had earlier won its sole bid for the Aircel group (which was also under the IBC) for Rs 150 crore. Bharti had already earlier announced that it would be making a conditional bid through Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel. A Bharti spokesperson had at that time confirmed that it had made a conditional bid primarily for the spectrum — a precious asset…

Bharti Airtel bids for RCom spectrum, Jio seeks deadline extension

It is believed that apart from Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel, there are four players that have made a bid

‘The Bharti group, through two of its companies, on Tuesday made a conditional bid for the spectrum of Reliance Communications (RCom) even as Reliance Jio asked for an extension of the November 12 deadline to make an offer under insolvency proceedings.

The interim resolution professional (RP) had invited prospective companies to make a bid for the company as a going concern with assets and businesses like telecom towers, spectrum, a fibre network, real estate, and an enterprise business, in order to recover debts of more than Rs 33,000 crore of secured creditors.

It is believed that apart from Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel, there are four players that have made a bid. They include US-based Varde Partners, a private equity fund that has a joint venture in India with the Aditya Birla group. But the joint venture has not made the bid, sources say. An e-mail query to Varde Partners did not elicit any response.

A Bharti spokesperson, in response to an e-mail query, said: “A conditional bid has been made primarily for the spectrum, which is a precious asset. Bid conditions include that the overall consideration will primarily be by way of the deferred spectrum payable to the government being passed on to us on terms and schedules applicable to such deferred payments”.

Reliance Jio, according to sources, has asked for an extension of the deadline by 10 days. However, it is not clear as to whether the RP, Anish Nanavaty, has granted it, and queries to him did not elicit any response.

Mukesh Ambani bails out Anil in Ericsson payout case day before SC deadline

RCom cleared the entire dues to Ericsson India to purge the contempt of a Supreme Court order

Company News: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani stepped in to bail out younger brother Anil Ambani by helping him repay Reliance Communications’ (RCom’s) dues to Ericsson. The last-minute rescue spares the younger Ambani a three-month jail term for contempt of court.

RCom on Monday cleared the entire dues to Ericsson India to purge the contempt of a Supreme Court order. The debt-ridden company had already paid Rs 118 crore of the Rs 550-crore dues. In addition, the company had paid around Rs 3 crore in penalties to Ericsson.

“My sincere and heartfelt thanks to my respected elder brother, Mukesh, and Nita for standing by me during these trying times and demonstrating the importance of staying true to our strong family values by extending this timely support,” said Anil Ambani in a media statement. RCom had time until Tuesday to make the payment, failing which Anil Ambani, its chairman, would have had to serve a three-month jail term, according to the court’s order.

“My family and I are grateful we have moved beyond the past, and are deeply grateful and touched with this gesture,” he added. On February 20, the apex court had held Ambani and two others guilty of contempt for wilfully violating its order by not paying Rs 550-crore dues to Ericsson..

Asset sale to Jio at risk from govt’s Rs 29-bn demand, RCom tells SC

Govt refuses to approve RCom’s spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee is given by either firm

BS | Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) told Supreme Court on Monday that its asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm may not go through if approvals aren’t in place by mid-December, putting at risk planned debt repayments by the distressed company.

The government, however, reiterated its stand in the Supreme Court that it could not grant an approval to RCom for spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee of Rs 29.4 billion was given to it by either company toward spectrum usage charges.|Rcom Asset Sale

RCom, on the other hand, said that it was not in a position to furnish the said bank guarantee and that it had already given land worth nearly Rs 14 billion as security for the government’s dues. But the government refused to use the land given to it as security by RCom and said it would prefer a bank guarantee.

“If the spectrum sale is not approved, banks will also not get anything,” Kapil Sibal, a lawyer representing RCom, said in court said on Monday.

The top court was hearing a plea moved by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Monday. In its petition, DoT told the Supreme Court that the Centre was looking for some kind of security from the company before it could allow the spectrum sale.

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