RCom announces tender and exchange offer for $300 million bond holders due 2020; proposes to buy notes at a discount

New Delhi: Debt-ridden Reliance Communications on Monday announced a ’tender and exchange’ offer to all holders of its outstanding $300 million bonds due 2020, proposing to buy the notes at a discount in cash. According to a regulatory filing, the company has offered to all holders of the outstanding $300 million senior secured 6.5 percent notes due 2020 to buy any or all existing notes at a discount in cash. It has also offered an option to exchange any or all existing notes due 2020 at a discount for $45 million zero-coupon notes due 2023. The new notes would be issued by a “wholly-owned subsidiary of RCOM, Global Cloud Xchange Limited”, according to the regulatory filing.

“… it has launched an invitation (the “Tender and Exchange Offer”) to all holders of its outstanding US $300,000,000 senior secured 6.5 per cent notes due 2020 (the “Existing Notes”) to (i) offer for tender any and all of their Existing Notes to be purchased by RCOM at a discount in cash or (ii) offer to exchange any and all of their Existing Notes at a discount for US $45,000,000 zero coupon notes due 2023…” the filing said.

RCom said the tender and exchange offer is being launched by RCom in the context of its broader debt restructuring and is in conjunction with a meeting of the holders of the existing notes which the company has convened in London on 10 August. “The Tender and Exchange Offer will expire at 9 am (London time) on 22 August 2018 unless otherwise extended or earlier terminated upon notification by RCOM to all holders. “The settlement date for the Tender and Exchange Offer is expected to be on or about 27 August 2018,” the filing said. [caption id=“attachment_4473553” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  RCom. File photo. Reuters.[/caption] The company early in the day also announced to have reached a settlement with Ericsson India to clear all claims by paying Rs 550 crore by September 30, 2018. The telecom gear firm had alleged that it had not been paid the dues of over Rs 1,500 crore and challenged the Anil Ambani-led firm before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). RCom expects to sell assets covering spectrum, fiber, telecom towers, MCNs and certain real estate assets, for an aggregate value of approximately Rs 25,000 crore by end of this month which it will use to clear dues. RCom has entered into an agreement with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio and asset management firm Brookfield to sell telecom business assets. Shares of Reliance Communications surged nearly 5 percent on Monday after the Supreme Court approved the settlement between RCom and Ericsson India over a payment dispute. The company’s stock moved up by 4.65 percent on Monday to settle at Rs 16.42 on the BSE. During the day, it soared 7.32 percent to Rs 16.84.