RCOM shares zoom as company announces massive debt reduction

Mumbai, Dec 26 (IANS) Shares of Reliance Communications (RCOM) zoomed and closed almost 30 per cent higher at Rs 21.33 per share after Reliance Group's Chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday announced plans to reduce the company's debt by Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore.

Around 3.15 p.m., RCOM's stocks augmented by 36.05 per cent to trade at Rs 22.19 per share on the BSE. At one point, it had risen by over 41 per cent to Rs 23 per scrip.

"Traders got excited based on the newsflow about RCOM debt settlement. Long term investors will await details about how this is going to be achieved and what are the sacrifices that will have to be made by different stakeholders," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

Addressing a press conference, Anil Ambani said the company has achieved full resolution of RCOM's debt restructuring.

RCOM had close to Rs 45,000 crore debt on its books in October 2017, Ambani said.

Ambani said the company would close all the transactions by January-March 2018. He said the debt would be recast by remonetisation with zero write-off to lenders and bankers.

The Reliance Group Chairman said it would monetise the assets of its wireless business. He said some foreign players had shown interest in buying equity in the company, but no part of the debt would be converted into equity.

The stock of RCOM has been on the rise since last week after there were rumours that Mukesh Ambani would be buying the assets of Anil Ambani's RCOM. RCOM shares have surged almost 65 per cent in three days.