Twelve years after Anil Ambani took control of the telecom business of his father’s empire, the Reliance Group chairman on Tuesday announced a debt resolution plan for Reliance Communications, following which the firm will exit the wireless business. Here’s a look at how RCom’s journey has been so far:
Debt
■ The debt of Reliance Communication Ltd (RCom) as on 30 October: Rs45,000 crore
■ Debt after the asset monetization process: Rs6,000 crore
■ The company plans to reduce Rs25,000 crore of debt through repayments and transfer of spectrum instalments payable
Assets on the block
■ Spectrum
■ Tower
■ Fibre
■ Media convergence nodes
■ Real estate except the 125-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Mumbai
Response to asset monetization plan
■ Expression of Interest received: 75
■ Non-binding offers received: 15
Real Estate
■ Company plans to develop 20 million sq. ft of commercial and residential space in DAKC over the next 10 years
Timeline
2005
Business empire created by Dhirubhai Ambani divided between brothers Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani. Mukesh gets the flagship oil business, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Indian Petrochemicals Corp. Ltd (IPCL), while Anil gets Reliance Infocomm (later renamed Reliance Communications), Reliance Energy, Reliance Capital and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL).
2006
■ RCom is listed on stock exchanges
2008
■ Reliance Power goes public
2010
■ Ambani brothers scrap non-compete agreement
2014
■ RCom sells Big Cinemas business by Reliance Capital unit Reliance Media-Works to Carnival Cinemas
2015
■ Anil Ambani purchases stake in Pipavav Defence (later renamed Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd)
■ RCom announces merger with Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd
2016
■ RCom announces merger with Aircel
2017
■ Aircel-RCom merger called off
■ RCom sells DTH arm Reliance BIG TV to Pantel, Veecon Media
■ Reliance Infrastructure sells Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission
Reliance Group companies have sued HT Media Ltd, Mint’s publisher, and nine others in the Bombay high court over a 2 October 2014 front-page story that they have disputed. HT Media is contesting the case.
Source: Mint