Reliance Comm revives tower unit IPO plans

MUMBAI, INDIA: Reliance Communications, India's No. 2 mobile operator, has revived IPO plans for its tower unit more than a year after it shelved a similar proposal amid a slump in equity markets worldwide.

Reliance Communications, which has 85 million subscribers and wants to reach 100 million by the end of the year, would also make a placement of shares to institutions at the appropriate time to cut debt, chairman Anil Ambani said at the annual meeting of shareholders.

Reliance Infratel, which has more than 48,000 towers, would shortly file a regulatory application with the capital markets regulatory for an initial public offering, he said. Reliance Communications holds 95 percent of the tower arm now.

"The company will offer 10 percent equity to investors," said Ambani, a billionaire who is one of India's richest men.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch gave a rough enterprise value of $13 billion to $14 billion for Reliance Infratel in a research note released in early September,

In Feb. 2008, Reliance Infratel had filed a regulatory application for an IPO of 10.05 percent, which media reports at the time said would be worth more than $1 billion.

Ambani said Reliance Communications, which has spent 400 billion rupees ($8.3 billion) over the last two years, would see a significant decline in capital expenditure this fiscal year.

"Now with the peak of our capex cycle behind us, we are getting ready to reap the full benefits of these in the form of strong cash flows," Ambani said.

Reliance Communications, which the market values at $13.2 billion, was up 0.3 percent at 307.50 rupees at 0655 GMT.

The shares have risen 35 percent so far this year, lagging a 75 percent rise in the main share index.