Reliance Communications shares jump after new debt repayment plan

The company, with $6.8 billion of net debt as of last March, said it will look to repay 170 billion rupees ($2.62 billion) of loans by selling assets such as mobile towers.

A man opens the shutter of a shop painted with an advertisement of Reliance Communications in Mumbai. Photo: Reuters

Key highlights:

Shares in embattled wireless carrier Reliance Communications Ltd rose more than 10% in early trade on Tuesday

The company presented a new debt repayment plan to its lenders

The company, with $6.8 billion of net debt as of last March, said it will look to repay 170 billion rupees ($2.62 billion) of loans by selling assets

Shares in embattled wireless carrier Reliance Communications Ltd rose more than 10% in early trade on Tuesday after the company presented a new debt repayment plan to its lenders.

The company, with $6.8 billion of net debt as of last March, said it will look to repay 170 billion rupees ($2.62 billion) of loans by selling assets such as mobile towers. It also pledged to repay another 100 billion rupees from sale or commercial development of its real estate assets.

Under a central bank debt restructuring plan, its lenders will also swap 70 billion rupees of the loans to take a 51 % stake in the company commonly called as Rcom.

The stock was up 13 % at 0352 GMT, compared with a 0.2 % fall in the broader NSE Nifty.

The stock has tumbled this year, hitting a series of record lows on worries about whether it can pay back its debt.