RCOM sale gets thumbs-up from appellate tribunal

Reliance Communications (RCOM) has been granted permission to sell its tower and fibre assets, but the funds must be kept in escrow until the firm’s dispute with creditors is resolved, the Economic Times reports. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) issued the interim decision, enabling RCOM to complete its planned asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) for around INR250 billion (USD3.8 billion). As part of the decision, however, the court has directed the telco to deposit the proceeds of the sale in an State Bank of India (SBI) escrow account until a final hearing on 18 April determines how the funds will be distributed. RCOM’s sale plan had been halted by claims from Swedish vendor Ericsson, which alleged that RCOM’s actions were fraudulent. The asset sale plan would strip RCOM to a shell company, the vendor claimed, leaving it unable to reclaim its funds: RCOM’s financial backers, as secured lenders, would take precedence over Ericsson for repayment.