By IANS,
New Delhi : Reliance Communications Thursday said it has received the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval to refinance the $1.18 billion (Rs.5,825 crore) of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) due on March 1.
The refinancing option is provided by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Commercial Bank of China Ltd., and Export Import Bank of China.
“Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) has received RBI approval for the refinancing being provided by ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd ), CDB (China Development Bank Corporation) and EXIM (Export Import Bank of China) for redemption of its outstanding FCCBs,” the company said in a statement.
The FCCBs will be redeemed on the due date of March 1, 2012, it added.
The telecom service provider also said it would benefit from extended loan maturity of 7 years and attractive interest cost of about 5 percent.
Reliance Communications had last year paid Rs.8,585 crore towards spectrum fee for offering 3G services in 13 telecom circles in India.
The firm is using a portion of the funds in re-financing the short term debt and the rest for equipment imports from Chinese vendors.
The re-financing will result in substantial savings in its interest cost apart from extending the company’s debt maturity profile, the Anil-Ambani led firm said.