Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd’s ended talks to sell some assets to GTL Infrastructure Ltd after the two failed to agree on a deal to create India’s second-largest operator of mobile-phone towers.
A non-binding agreement in June expired on Aug. 31 and neither side is extending the deadline, GTL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday.
Reliance has begun discussions with other potential investors and is also considering an initial public offering of the tower unit, called Reliance Infratel, it said in an e-mailed statement, without specifying names.
A purchase would have more than doubled GTL’s number of transmission towers and created a company with an estimated value of 500 billion rupees (US$11 billion).
Reliance Communications, the second-largest wireless operator in India, fell 0.7 percent to Rs162.1 in Mumbai trading on concern the collapse of the deal would undermine the company’s ability to reduce debt. GTL dropped 3.5 percent to Rs43.6.
“This deal was important for Reliance Communications,” said Jigar Shah, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities India Pvt in Mumbai.
“If it’s not going through, they need a backup plan,” he said.
Vikas Arora, a spokesman for GTL in Mumbai, declined to elaborate on yesterday’s statement. GTL agreed to buy about 50,000 transmission towers from Reliance in exchange for cash and stock, the companies said in June.
GTL was to have given new shares worth as much as US$3 billion, more than triple its market value, to Reliance Communications shareholders and assume about 180 billion rupees in debt for the tower assets, two people familiar with the matter said in July.
A purchase would have increased GTL’s number of transmission towers to about 80,000 from 33,000. GTL in January bought 17,500 towers from Aircel Ltd for Rs80.3 billion.
Reliance said it couldn’t disclose why the deal with GTL collapsed, citing confidentiality agreements. It’s now pursuing a similar transaction that would result in a “significant” reduction of debt, the company said.
The company, which has said it plans to sell a 26 percent stake in itself for an “appropriate” premium, said in June the tower sale would lead to a reduction of debt.
Emirates Telecommunications Corp chairman Mohammed Omran said the same month that investing in Reliance was among options the United Arab Emirates company is considering to expand in India.
Reliance’s debt exceeded cash and equivalents by Rs284 billion as of the end of June, the phone operator said. The firm also paid Rs85.9 billion for the right to use third-generation spectrum in a recent government auction of airwaves.
Assets of Reliance Infratel include an optical-fiber cable network of 190,000km, according to a June 16 report from HDFC Securities Ltd. Tata Teleservices Ltd, NTT DoCoMo Inc’s Indian partner and Uninor, a venture between India’s Unitech Ltd and Norway’s Telenor ASA are among Infratel’s customers.
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
REQUIREMENTS: The US defense secretary must submit a Taiwan security assistance road map and an appraisal of Washington’s ability to respond to Indo-Pacific conflict The US Congress has released a new draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes up to US$1 billion in funding for Taiwan-related security cooperation next year. The version published on Sunday by US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson removed earlier language that would have invited Taiwan to participate in the US-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). A statement on Johnson’s Web page said the NDAA “enhances U.S. defense initiatives in the Indo-Pacific to bolster Taiwan’s defense and support Indo-Pacific allies.” The bill would require the US secretary of defense to “enable fielding of uncrewed and anti-uncrewed systems capabilities”
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS