Reliance Communications files for Singapore IPO

The unit will list as a business trust and its IPO is likely to be launched in the second quarter of 2012. It is set to be Singapore's biggest IPO of the year, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

As India's second largest mobile operator, Reliance Communications has been struggling with $7 billion in debt and has posted a decline in profits during in 10 quarters straight due to hefty competition. The potential IPO of the undersea cable unit would offer relief to the group, after it failed a several times to sell its businesses.

In December 2009, Reliance Communications reportedly hoped to raise around $3 billion by selling its undersea cable business, but found no takers.

A hoped-for IPO of its telecoms tower unit also failed to take off and the planned sale of the business dragged on for nearly two years until recently private equity giants The Carlyle Group and The Blackstone Group were said to have signed a term sheet to buy up to 95% of the business. According to sources, the private equity giants would pay INR150-200 billion ($3-4 billion) for the unit - the equivalent of INR310-410 million per tower.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Infrastructure
• India
• IPO
• The Carlyle Group
• The Blackstone Group
• Infrastructure