Two Anil Ambani group companies, Reliance Power and Reliance Natural Resources, on Monday said their respective shareholders have approved merger between the two entities, estimated to create a Rs 50,000-crore (Rs 500 billion) entity.
The latest Ambani-sibling fight has now become a political battle.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL and Anil Ambani's RNRL are locked in a dispute over the terms of the gas supply master agreement, whereby RIL is to supply gas for RNRL's power projects. Earlier, the division bench of Justices J N Patel and K K Tated had said it would like to finish the hearing before Diwali, so that the judgment could be written during the vacation. But now, with the government's entry into the litigation, the hearing may not get over before the Diwali vacation.
Shares of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd on Tuesday tanked in the range of 4-8 per cent on the bourses after reports surfaced that these two ADA Group firms are involved in fraudulent banking activities overseas.
Anil Ambani, chairman of the Reliance ADA Group, on Monday denied that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had banned his two group companies, Reliance Infra and Reliance Natural Resources, or their directors from participation in the capital market for any period.
Official sources indicated on Monday that the government may allocate natural gas to Anil Ambani Group's proposed power plants like the Dadri project in Uttar Pradesh only six months prior to commissioning, as reservation of gas is not allowed under the present policy.
The revised GSMA was signed pursuant to the Supreme Court's May 7 judgement, turning down RNRL's demand for cheap gas from RIL based on a family agreement.
In the short run, ONGC and OIL should both reap a bonanza given the government hike.
However, no formal confirmation of the meeting and the issues discussed could be obtained from either group.
Billionaire Anil Ambani on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at 7 Race Course Road for close to an hour but refused comments on the purpose of his meeting. The meeting comes within days of the Supreme Court rejecting his group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd's plea for cheap gas from Reliance Industries as had been decided in a private family agreement of 2005.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, will pronounce its verdict on the nation's most talked corporate battle over gas supply, outcome of which will shape the future of flagship energy firms run by brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating possible violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act by some former UBS employees, has written to the UK's Financial Services Authority, seeking details of the alleged misuse of accounts of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-controlled Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources.
An analysis of buy and sell transactions by mutual funds during May shows that the fund houses purchased stocks from sectors like power, software, housing finance and sugar, while offloading shares from banking, refineries and airlines. According to brokerage firm Sharekhan, state-run NTPC, ONGC, TCS, Essar Oil and Reliance Petroleum figure among the favourite picks by the equity funds in the month of May.
The government on Saturday filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a direction to declare as 'null and void' the private family agreement of the Ambanis that provides for gas supply by Reliance Industries Limited to Reliance Natural Resources Limited. The government petition has named as respondents RIL led by Mukesh Ambani and RNRL headed by Anil Ambani, which have separately filed cross-petitions against the Bombay High Court's June 15 judgment.
The apex court had sought the response after Anil Ambani-led RNRL had consented to government being made a party in the dispute. RNRL contended that it was entitled to receive the gas at $2.34 per unit from Mukesh Ambani group RIL which had entered into an arrangement for supplying gas to NTPC at that rate.
Within 24 hours of the brothers Ambani deciding on a ceasefire, the stock market and Reliance pundits are out with their calculators to figure out the financial implication of ending the non-compete terms five years in advance and the loss that Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited would incur post the Supreme Court verdict.
With the government making a distinction between the privately-run Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and the government-run NTPC Ltd in relation with the gas dispute with Reliance Industries Ltd, the ministry of power is likely to take up NTPC's case with the Empowered Group of Ministers.
A short-term (five-year) price is not relevant beyond a point when power plants have a life of 15-20 years, says J P Chalasani, CEO, Reliance Power.
There is nothing much for Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd to renegotiate with Reliance Industries Ltd, as the price and quantity of gas it is seeking will be dictated by the government policy and the tenure of supply will depend on life of the fields.
Resuming arguments over its dispute with Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, senior counsel Harish Salve said it was RNRL which had in 2007 argued that marketing freedom cannot be allowed to the Mukesh Ambani-run firm and asked the government to frame Gas Utilisation Policy.
During hearing of the dispute over supply of gas by RIL to RNRL at $2.34 per mmBtu, the bench headed by chief justice K G Balakrishnan said the two parties could arrive at a 'suitable arrangement' through arbitration, as the Bombay high court that approved the Reliance empire's demerger cannot spell what is the ideal arrangement.
RNRL is seeking 28 million cubic meter of gas a day or more than one-third of peak output from RIL's eastern offshore KG-D6 fields at a price set in a 2005 family agreement.
RIL declined to comment on this or related allegations, saying the entire issue was in court.
A friend of Mukesh Ambani should not be petroleum minister
Anil dared the oil ministry to cancel the production sharing contract with RIL if it was really aggrieved and not challenge third party agreements.
Even four years after splitting the Reliance empire, the Ambani brothers still seem to be washing dirty linen in public: the latest battle is over gas pricing.
Amidst the legal battle between Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd over gas from Kaveri basin, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has hit out at the Ambani brothers for fighting over a natural resource that belongs to the government and the people of the country.
Sources familiar with the developments said the government will file an application in the Bombay High Court by the end of December or early January. RIL on its part has already appealed against the order.
Development plan for K-G basin runs for 12 years, so can't supply to RNRL for 17 years, says RIL.
Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Natural Resources icked off the second round of the battle today by filing a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, which prompted Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries to file a caveat in the apex court.
RIL president and CEO (Oil and Gas) PMS Prasad, who met petroleum ministry officials to discuss under capacity production from the company's KG basin fields, said: "We have time till July 15 to decide. . . we are still evaluating our options."
With the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) planning to approach the Supreme Court, challenging a High Court order for selling gas at $2.34 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), the chances of an agreement between the Ambani brothers by July 15 appear remote.
Now that the Bombay High Court has rejected the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' (MoPNG) attempts to help Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) wriggle out of its 2005 contract to supply 28 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), the pressure on it has increased several times over.
While the merger will see the share of the promoter group increase by two percentage points, the move has also seen a few analysts raise concerns.
The apex court also heard a plea for bringing back black money stashed in tax havens abroad.
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) lost more than a fourth of its market capitalisation in just two days of trading after the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) announced its merger with sister firm Reliance Power (R-Power).
The ratio is based on the valuation made by consultancy firm KPMG.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power's board will on July 4 consider merging another group firm Reliance Natural Resources with itself.
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