Reliance Communications gets relief from bondholders as deadline looms

Reliance Communications Ltd., the embattled Indian phone company headed by billionaire Anil Ambani, clinched the approval of its overseas bondholders to ease the carrier’s debt burden, putting the company a step closer to averting bankruptcy.
 

The Indian phone operator, which defaulted last year on a $300-million bond, got 83 percent of bondholders to approve the plan, the company said in an exchange filing.

The vote was crucial for Ambani because settling the matter was a precondition for RCom to reorganise its larger local debt. The company has been working against the clock to reach agreements with all its creditors by Aug. 27 or face insolvency proceedings.
 

RCom is also in the midst of completing its sale of airwaves, towers and fiber to a rival controlled by Ambani’s older brother, who’s India’s richest man. The brothers wrapped up a smaller deal involving transmission nodes, worth 20 billion rupees, on Aug. 23.

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