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Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) shares plunged by more than half to a record low on Monday, after the Indian telco said it will seek a fast-track resolution to its indebtedness through bankruptcy court, Reuters reported. In one of India’s most high-profile bankruptcy filing cases, RCom said lack of regulatory approval for asset sales as well as cases pending at the Supreme Court and Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal resulted in its decision to approach the National Company Law Tribunal. The Mumbai-based telco also said its lenders had not received any proceeds from asset monetisation plans, and that its overall debt resolution process had not made any progress. Competition in India’s telecoms industry has stepped up several levels since the 2016 entry of cut-price player Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, leading to RCom shutting down its wireless communications business. Reliance Jio is owned by Mukesh Ambani, the elder brother of RCom owner Anil Ambani. RCom has been left owing banks $7 billion as of March 2017 when it last made its debt level public, and more to vendors.

A bankruptcy court judge yesterday confirmed iHeartMedia Inc.’s restructuring plan, which allows the company to slash its debt load and hand over control to a group of bondholders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The decision by Judge Marvin Isgur in Houston allows the country’s biggest radio-station operator to bring to a close a nearly three-year restructuring journey and almost a year in chapter 11. The restructuring plan reduces its debt from $16.1 billion to $5.75 billion and hands over ownership of the company to a group of bondholders led by Franklin Advisers Inc. after about a decade of control by private-equity firms Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP. The company is expected to exit bankruptcy sometime in the second quarter, considering a slight delay in getting regulatory approvals because of the government shutdown, said Benjamin Rhode, of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, iHeartMedia’s lawyer.

A proposed pact immunizing the private-equity firms that own iHeartMedia Inc. from legal trouble will delay the radio broadcaster’s exit from chapter 11 until the new year, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The settlement involves iHeart’s most prized asset, billboard company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. If approved, it would end litigation that accuses private-equity owners Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P. of taking advantage of Clear Channel for iHeart’s benefit. The agreement would also allow iHeart to pay $150 million to eliminate the $1 billion debt it owes to Clear Channel, iHeart said. Bain and THL have denied any wrongdoing. The proposed settlement arrived in what were supposed to be the final weeks of iHeart’s bankruptcy proceedings, which began in March when the radio-station operator filed for protection in an effort to ease its debt load. Instead of a chapter 11 plan confirmation hearing that was supposed to start on Tuesday in Houston, iHeart faces a series of hearings, starting next Monday and stretching into January. Judge Marvin Isgur will review the settlement and iHeart’s chapter 11 exit plan, which most creditors had considered a done deal until the settlement was introduced.

Investors in iHeartMedia Inc.’s billboard company, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc., have agreed to settle legal disputes over financial arrangements between the two companies as they prepare to part ways, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Under a chapter 11 bankruptcy exit plan, radio broadcaster iHeart will separate from the billboard company. A proposed settlement unveiled Monday spells out the terms of the separation, including a forecast that Clear Channel will collect $150 million from iHeart, which will also provide financing to boost the billboard company’s chances of success after the separation. The settlement pact details the agreements that will clear away the threat of continuing litigation over accusations that iHeart kept itself afloat at Clear Channel’s expense.

IHeartMedia Inc.’s bankruptcy-reorganization plan continues to face pushback from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. trustee and a group of longtime unsecured bondholders holding about $475 million in debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. IHeart, which has more than 850 radio stations, filed for bankruptcy in March after nearly a year of talks with its creditors on the terms for restructuring its debt, much of which was left over from a 2008 leveraged buyout. The chapter 11 proceeding would slash about $10 billion in debt while handing over nearly all of the equity in a reorganized iHeart to a group of senior creditors led by Franklin Advisers Inc. The SEC, the U.S. trustee and the group of unsecured legacy bondholders on Wednesday all filed papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston asking the court to not confirm the proposed reorganization plan. A confirmation hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.

The developer of Unlockd, a mobile app that sends targeted ads to users when they open their smartphones, has filed for bankruptcy in New York as it hunts for financiers to fund litigation against Google, which the startup blames for its demise, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Australian-based tech startup has accused Alphabet Inc.’s Google of flexing its dominance to kill a potential competitor in the mobile advertising market. Unlockd’s U.S. subsidiaries filed for chapter 11 protection on Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The company also has filed for the equivalent of chapter 11 protection in Australia and the U.K. Founded in 2014, Unlockd’s business model offered an alternative to Google. Users of Unlockd receive credits that can be redeemed for rewards in exchange for viewing targeted ads sent to their Android phones. The startup had been preparing an initial public offering in Australia for early 2018 with an anticipated valuation of between $180 million and $230 million, according to a report prepared by Australian administrators. But interest in Unlockd, the startup says, evaporated after Google threatened to remove the app from its Google Play store and Admob mobile advertising sales tool, saying that the app violated its terms of service.