RCom to sell realty assets to prune debt

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) on Saturday announced plans to monetise its real estate assets as it looks to lessen its debt burden.

In a filing with BSE, RCOm said, “Reliance Communications Ltd has informed... that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on July 07, 2013, inter alia, to consider proposals for unlocking value from the Real Estate Properties held by the Reliance Communications Limited and its subsidiaries.”

Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance group had announced the setting up of a joint venture with Chinese real estate firm Wanda group. 

RCom has utilised expertise of Wanda Group in development of Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, which is spread over area of 135 acres in Navi Mumbai, and a business district project in Hyderabad, covering an area of 80 acres owned by subsidiary Reliance Infrastructure. 

Further, Wanda Group and Reliance MediaWorks also agreed to develop multiplexes business in India and the US.

It may be noted that RCom has been looking to hive off as well as open up various assets to lower its debt burden, as the net debt of the company stood at Rs 38,864 crore by end of March 2013.

Earlier this week, RCOm paid off debts which cumulatively amounted to around Rs 6,000 crore.