RCom climbs 6 pc; GTL Infra zooms 20 pc on tower biz deal

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani firm Reliance Communications on Monday climbed over 6 per cent in the early trade, a day after the announcement of a Rs 50,000-crore deal to merge its telecom tower business with GTL infrastructure, whose shares sky rocketed 20 per cent on the BSE.

Sources close to the deal said that it would help RCom reduce its Rs 33,000-crore debt by Rs 18,000 crore.

Shares of Reliance Communications (RCom) surged 6.36 per cent to touch a high of Rs 204.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scrip was trading at Rs 201.25, up 4.55 per cent at 0906 hrs.

Yesterday, the boards of RCom, its subsidiary Reliance Infratel Ltd and GTL Infrastructure gave an in-principle approval to a Rs 50,000-crore (USD 11 billion) deal to create the world's largest independent telecom infrastructure company.

Meanwhile, shares of GTL Infrastructure rallied up to 20 per cent to touch a year's high of Rs 54.40.

The transaction is expected to achieve final closing over the next six months.