Shares in India's RCom rise on Ambani reassurance

Shares in India's Reliance Communications jumped on Tuesday after chairman Anil Ambani told investors the company was intent on reducing its high debt by selling stakes in its subsidiaries. The firm's shares rose 6.05 percent to a day's high of 50.8 rupees on the comments, which allayed some investors' concerns about the company after it hit a record low last month. The shares eventually closed up 4.7 percent. RComm, India's second-biggest mobile phone firm and the flagship of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group, had net debt of $6.4 billion as of June and has so far been unsuccessful in its attempts to raise funds through stake sales. It has been trying to sell a stake in its telecom tower business Reliance Infratel after talks with telecom tower giant GTL Infrastructure fell through in 2010. "Hopefully, in 2013, we will be able to conclude a value-unlocking strategy for Reliance Infratel," Ambani told shareholders at the annual general meeting, referring to possible stake sales. The firm will also attempt to list again its undersea cable arm Flag Telecom on the Singapore Stock Exchange, Ambani said. Listing plans were shelved in July due to adverse market conditions. His group firms have been battling a downward trend in share price since last year, partly triggered by a fall in investor confidence after investigators said they would probe whether Ambani was involved in a high-profile telecom scam. Ambani is India's seventh-richest man with a fortune of $7.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He has strongly denied any wrongdoing in connection with the telecom scandal, one of a string that has shaken the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.