Brookfield Infrastructure calls off deal with RCom

Brookfield Infrastructure, one of the largest telecom asset management has called off the deal with Anil Ambani owned Reliance Communication (RCom) worth $200 million.

"The merger will not proceed and therefore our transaction as previously announced will not proceed either. However, we continue to monitor the evolving situation to determine if revised terms can be agreed upon," a statement from Brookfield read.

Brookfield said that the company was being 'patient' in attempting the RCom deal and 'several other potential opportunities in this sector and it is evaluating a number of tower portfolios in hopes of developing a scalable presence in India'.

The statement came after, RCom said that the deal with Brookfield deal is still on.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings recently said that Reliance Communications will gradually exit from the wireless voice business and significantly scale down its operations due to intense competition.

"We expect the restructuring to transform RCom from an integrated telecom company to a business-to-business bandwidth services provider with three segments - GCX, enterprise, and data center business.

However, the post-restructuring Rcom will not benefit from GCX's cash flows, which are largely ring-fenced under its $350 million senior secured bond documents," Fitch said.

The firm also expects GCX's end-September 2017 cash balance to fall closer to $40 million - the threshold below which we will consider negative rating action."

"We expect its indefeasible right of usage sales to be below $25 million during the six months ended September 2017 - lagging management's expectations of $64 million for the full year to 31 March 2018. GCX's undrawn revolving credit facility of $30 million has lapsed. Its only debt is the $350 million bond, which is due in August 2019 and the next coupon payment is due in February 2018.