It's Official now, Tata Sons Group and SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh have submitted their financial bids for national carrier Air India (AI) on Wednesday.
Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said earlier in the day, "Financial bids for Air India disinvestment received by Transaction Adviser. Process now moves to concluding stage,"
Financial bids for Air India disinvestment received by Transaction Adviser. Process now moves to concluding stage. pic.twitter.com/0NxCJxX5Q1
— Secretary, DIPAM (@SecyDIPAM) September 15, 2021
The Indian government mulls selling a 100% stake in the airline and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express. And a 50% stake in ground handling company Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS).
To get the national carrier privatized by December, government is doing everything possible, provided Today's submitted bids were found satisfactory. Interestingly, Tata Group has been keen on the Air India bidding process for quite some time now.
In 2018, under an unattractive divestment process, the national carrier failed to find bidders for a 76 per cent stake sale. The government has since then decided to go for a complete stake sale.
Looking back in the history, Tatas under the leadership of JRD Tata set up Tata Airlines in 1932, which was later renamed as Air India in the year 1946. The Indian government took the control of the airline in 1953 to make it a nationalized carrier , but JRD Tata continued to be its chairman till 1977.
Current scenario is, Tata group operates Vistara in partnership with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India in partnership with Malaysia's AirAsia group under Tony Fernandes.
An Economics Times sources say, Air India’s current debt stood at about Rs 43,000 crore ($5848447200), and of that, Rs 22,000 crore ($2992228800) would be transferred to the Air India Asset Holding Limited (AIAHL) to sweeten the deal. Subsidiaries Air India Engineering Services and Air India Air Transport Services will also be part of AIAHL.
Eventually, the Indian government might choose to monetise these assets to pay off AI’s debt before it is passed on to its new owners. The government might also have to absorb at least Rs 20,000 crore more of debt due to fund losses.
