Mumbai: Global private equity firms TPG Capital, KKR, Blackstone and airlines like Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Delta-Air France-KLM are among the entities that have shown interest in the Jet Airways stake sale process.
Lenders of Jet Airways have invited initial bids to buy as much as 75 per cent stake in the cash-strapped carrier. The call for expression of interest (EoI) will end at 6 pm on Wednesday.
The potential bidder should have a net worth of at least Rs 1,000 crore ($144 million) in the preceding financial year, or at least three years of experience in the airline business, as per the invitation of bids announced on Monday by the State Bank of India.
Jet Airways require Rs 8,500 crore to fly out of trouble after a fare war by budget airlines wiped out profits and it is saddled with a debt of over $1 billion.
The airline’s domestic pilots body, the National Aviators Guild (NAG), on Tuesday served a legal notice to the company, setting an April 14 deadline for the new management to clear the salary dues.
Jet Airways pilots, along with engineers and senior executives, have not been paid for the last three months amid cash-drought in the airline that saw an ownership change last month with banks taking majority shares. Along with these staff, the airline has defaulted on the payment of March salaries to other employees as well. The NAG claims to represent around 1,100 of the total 1,600 pilots of the carrier.
