Brookfield set to bid for Rcom’s Towers

According to the media report Reliance Communications has sought a sincere bidder for its Reliance Infratel tower business. US private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management has come up as a serious bidder for the same.

Reliance Infratel tower's business sale has been delayed since January 15 when the deal was supposed to have been completed. Earlier TPG Capital had valued it below Rs 21500 crores. Considering it to be too less RCom had appointed Tillman Global Holdings to find a suitable bidder. TPG and Tillman had jointly tried a non-bidding pact to buy the tower assets, but failed.

RCom thought the sale of tower business would help make up for its huge debt. The deal with Brookfield is likely to take place after its possible deal with Aircel. Both the companies will enter into a joint venture and thereby transfer nearly Rs 14000 crore debt each. The deal with Brookfiled would be completed within a month of the joint venture with Aircel. RCom would also seek Ericsson, its pan India managed services partner to identify overlaps in the venture.

However, Brookfield has valued the towers at just Rs 15000 crore which is much lower than the expectations of RCom to sell those above Rs 21000 core at least. The coming monsoon session of Parliament is also to be watched out for, wherein the Congress has already alleged the Modi government for under-reporting of revenues of telecos worth Rs 45000 crores. The monsoon session is likely to clear the matter.

Reliance Communications, the telecom arm of Reliance offers 3G, DTH and internet based services in India and abroad. The company is also trying a trading and sharing of spectrum with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio for virtual consolidation.