New Delhi: Former Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd. will fall back into bankruptcy as an appeals court allowed the beleaguered company’s request to enter the process in an attempt to sell assets.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal allowed RCom to withdraw its appeal against insolvency proceedings initiated last year and lifted interim orders that temporarily halted the bankruptcy case. The moratorium on recovery of dues from RCom will continue.
Today’s order allowing RCom to be sent back to bankruptcy court is in accordance with the company’s plans, disclosed to the stock exchanges in February, to seek to sell its telecommunications assets and airwave licenses through the insolvency process.
Anil Ambani’s older sibling and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. had earlier offered to purchase RCom’s assets in a 173 billion rupee ($2.5 billion) deal, which would have helped partly pay off lenders. The deal fell through after encountering regulatory hurdles.
Mukesh Ambani had in March helped his younger brother avert the risk of being jailed by making an $80 million payment on his behalf to the local unit of Ericsson AB for past maintenance services.
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