Reliance Comm Shares Rise 15.5% After Supreme Court Verdict

The Supreme Court today order Reliance Communications Ltd to produce bank guarantees of Rs 1,400 crore in two days time to go ahead with the sale of its spectrum assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. The bench further asked the government to clear the spectrum sale within seven days of submission of the bank guarantee. Corporate guarantee backed by properties as assurance would suffice as a guarantee, the court said.

The shares of Reliance Communication climbed as much 15.5 percent on BSE to hit Rs 14.72 a piece after the verdict. The Anil Ambani-led company had lost close to 60 percent in share value in 2018.

The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal had earlier asked the Department of Telecommunications to issue a no-objection certificate for sale of Rcom's assets. DoT, however, expressed its inability to do so until it received a bank guarantee of around Rs 2,940 crore for the spectrum dues owed by the company. RCom later said it could present land parcels but not bank guarantees.

The company informed the supreme court that if it did not receive the government's permission on time, the deal with Reliance Jio to buy RCom's spectrum, towers and other assets to help repay its debt, would collapse, resulting in the bank receiving no money.

A Bloomberg report said that the company's lawyers informed the top court that Reliance Realty, which holds the properties presented before the tribunal, will be giving the corporate guarantee in two days time.