Bharti Airtel fumes over extension of bid deadline for Reliance Communications assets

Bharti Airtel has written a letter to Anish Nanavaty, the resolution professional in charge of the insolvency proceedings against the bankrupt Reliance Communications (RCom), objecting to the extension of 10 days given by the committee of creditors (CoC) for submission of bids. The letter dated November 14, which has been reviewed by FE, says: “To our utter shock, we have learnt that CoC has now decided to extend the submission timeline to November 25, 2019 until 1200 hrs, solely based on the request of another potential bidder.” Bharti has said while the company’s request for extension of deadline for submission of bids till December 1, 2019 was “rejected” by the CoC last month, the same has been granted now.

The initial date for submission of resolution plan was September 20, 2019, which was extended till November 11, 2019 on the request of potential bidders. However, Bharti had requested for an extension in a letter dated October 31, 2019 “given the complexities in the proposed transaction”, but that request was turned down. The company is now seeking to withdraw its initial bid and resubmit the same.