Reliance Infratel Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Communications (RCom), received shareholders’ approval for the demerger of the tower division of the RITL into Towercom Infrastructure Private Ltd (TIPL).

The shareholders’ approval came in with a 98 per cent majority at their meeting convened on April 29, 2017, RCom said in a statement.

Upon the completion of the demerger, through a merger scheme, Rapid Holdings 2 Pte Ltd, a Brookfield Infrastructure Group company will acquire TIPL. This will create the second largest independent and operator-neutral tower company in India.

The shareholders of TIPL have also approved the said scheme at their meeting held on April 29, convened under the order of the National Company Law Tribunal.

The company has already received approval from Competition Commission of India for the proposed Scheme of Arrangement.

The company’s telecom towers demerged into TIPL will be 100 per cent owned and independently managed by Brookfield Infrastructure.

Upon the Scheme becoming effective, RCom will receive an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore ($1.7 billion), which will be solely used to reduce its debt. The already announced combination of RCom’s wireless business with Aircel, and the monetisation of the Tower business, will together reduce RCom’s overall debt by Rs 31,000 crore ($4.8 billion), or nearly 70 per cent of existing debt.

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