...July 25, 2019 SINGAPORE (S&P Global Ratings) July 25, 2019--S&P Global Ratings said today that an incoming telecom investment will continue to help reduce the debt burden at Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL; ###+/Stable/--). We believe the investment is a firm step on the deleveraging path RIL set out on in March 2019, when it transferred its telecom tower and fiber assets and related debt to investment trusts (InvITs). Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will invest Indian rupees (INR) 252 billion in RIL's Tower Infrastructure Trust, a telecom infrastructure InvIT. We estimate that RIL's reported gross debt could fall by about INR750 billion, or about 23% of the company's gross debt, from that prior to the formation of InvITs. Our calculations consider the cash proceeds of about INR120 billion from the Brookfield investment and the INR380 billion debt transfer as part of the telecom tower and fiber assets spinoff to InvITs in March 2019. We expect RIL to receive...
