Mukesh Ambani bails out Anil Ambani at last moment, helps him clear Rs 550 crore Ericsson dues

With last-moment support from his brother, Anil's heavily debt-laden Reliance Communications made a payment of Rs 550 crore, including interest, to Ericsson just a day before the expiry of the deadline.

RCom made a payment of Rs 550 crore, including interest, to Ericsson. (Image: PTI)

Mukesh Ambani came forward for RCom's rescue

Anil Ambani thanked his brother and Nita Ambani for standing by him

RCom has cleared all dues including interest, Ericsson said

New Delhi: Just when the embattled industrialist Anil Ambani was on the verge to face a three-month jail term for failing to clear the loan of crores to Swedish service provider Ericsson, his elder brother Mukesh Ambani came forward to rescue. With last-moment support from his brother, Anil's heavily debt-laden Reliance Communications made a payment of Rs 550 crore, including interest, to Ericsson just a day before the expiry of the deadline set by the Supreme Court to clear dues or face a jail term. Anil took no time to thank his brother and Nita Ambani for standing by him in trying times and extending timely support. “My sincere and heartfelt thanks to my respected elder brother, Mukesh, and Nita, for standing by me during these trying times, and demonstrating the importance of staying true to our strong family values by extending this timely support,” a late-night statement issued by Anil's firm quoted him as saying. Anil said he and his family ‘are grateful’ and ‘deeply touched with this gesture’ that they "have moved beyond the past". In the statement, RCom said Rs 550 crore dues to Ericsson, including interest dues, has been made in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement. However, the company did not give details about the source of funds but cited "timely support" from Mukesh in the trying times. Soon after making the payment, RCom announced the termination of Rs 17,000 crore deal to sell telecom assets like spectrum, fibre and tower to Mukesh's Reliance Jio, citing delays in approvals from the government and lenders. Even an Ericsson spokesperson confirmed news agency PTI that the company has received balance payment of Rs 458.77 crore (principal amount) from RCom on Monday. Together with Rs 118 crore, it had previously paid, RCom has cleared all dues including interest. Both of Anil’s telecom and power sector businesses went into heavy debt due to regulatory headwinds and intense market competition. The two brothers had fought a bitter public battle after his father Dhirubhai died without leaving a will. They split his businesses between themselves, with Anil getting telecom and power while Mukesh retained oil and petrochemical businesses. The split did not end the feud and the two bickered over the commitment of Mukesh' Reliance Industries for the supply of gas to Anil's power plants. In 2008, Anil's RCom wanted to merge with South Africa's MTN but the move was thwarted by Mukesh citing his holding right of the first refusal. Since then, the two brothers scrapped a no-compete agreement and Mukesh re-entered telecom business in 2016 offering free voice call for life and data at dirt cheap prices.

Published at : 19 Mar 2019 08:04 AM (IST)

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