Indian billionaire turns to bankruptcy court after losing 4G price war with his brother

One of India’s richest men has turned to a bankruptcy court for help as he battles to save his company after losing a brutal price war with his older brother.

Anil Ambani’s wireless telecom business, Reliance Communications, announced Sunday it was asking India’s National Companies Law Tribunal to help sell its assets and settle billions in debts. Shares in the company plunged more than 50% in Mumbai on Monday, but recovered some losses later in the day to close 35% lower.

The company, which owes around $7 billion, is seeking to resolve its “substantial and unsustainable debt and liabilities” through the court, it said in a statement.

Under Indian insolvency and bankruptcy rules,the court has nine months to facilitate the sale of Ambani’s mobile assets.If it fails, the company will be declared bankrupt and liquidated.

Reliance Communications, owned by billionaire Anil Ambani, lost out in India's cut-throat price war.

The plight of Reliance Communications, once one of India’s largest telecom players, highlights the stunning way in which Ambani’s older brother Mukesh has disrupted the industry in recent years.

Mukesh Ambani launched his own mobile operator, Reliance Jio, in 2016, with an eye-popping offer of six months of free 4G internet and incredibly cheap rates thereafter. The company’s blockbuster debut triggered a brutal price war that drove mobile data prices down from 206 rupees ($3) per gigabyte in 2016 to 12 rupees ($0.16) in 2018.

Jio has amassed more than 280 million subscribers in less than three years.

The price war claimed several victims. British mobile giant Vodafone (VOD) merged its Indian operations with local rival Idea Cellular to stay competitive, while others quit the market altogether,including Reliance Communications.

Anil Ambani’s company announced in late 2017 that it would sell its main consumer mobile business, including its high-speed bandwidth and over 43,000 cellphone towers, to Reliance Jio. Since then, it has been focusing on corporate clients, providing them with access to internet data centers and its underwater cable network.

But the deal with Reliance Jio has beenblockedby India’s Department of Telecommunications because of doubts over Reliance Communications’ ability to repay its debts. The company said Sunday that it hasn’t been able to reach a consensus with more than 40 creditors.

It expects the bankruptcy court to enable a “fast-track… resolution in 2019, free of all uncertainties and challenges.” The company’s board “remains confident on future prospects,” it added.

The mobile industry clash is just the latest episode in a lengthy feud between the Ambani brothers. After the death of their father in 2002, they waged a bitter succession battle for control of the vast Reliance business empire that he had spent decades building.

Mukesh Ambani has emerged as the clear winner. His net worth is nearly $50 billion, according to Forbes, dwarfing his younger brother’s $2 billion.