The biggest name and the strongest contender remains Founder of IA Tata Group it was known to have submitted its offer through AirAsia India.
Others that did include a group of AI employees and a New York-based company run by a person of Indian origin.
However, SpiceJet did not confirm whether promoter Ajay Singh formally expressed an interest in the airline.
“Multiple EIs have been received for the strategic divestment of AI. The transaction will now go to the second stage, ”tweeted the Department of Investment and Management of Public Assets (DIPAM) after the deadline.
Multiple expressions of interest have been received in the strategic divestment of Air India. The transaction will be… https://t.co/YPEvVs4fAs
– Secretary, DIPAM (@SecyDIPAM) 1607946594000
Interested entities must submit physical offers within 15 days. Those who qualify to bid for AI under the eligibility rules will be hinted on January 5, 2021. Those eligible will then compete by bidding on the basis of business value (EV).
This means that instead of having to take on a predetermined level of airline debt of Rs 23 billion, they will now price an EV based on their estimate of AI’s combined equity and debt value.
The winning bidders will decide who is trading the highest EV value and at least 15% of this value must be paid in cash, while the remainder can be assumed as debt.
Meanwhile, a section of Air India employees confirmed to have submitted their expression of interest in the airline. A Seychelles fund is your financial investor in this move of just over 200 employees led by director of artificial intelligence (business) Meenakshi Mallik. “We have submitted the EoI,” said Mallik, a board member of AI, after submitting the offer.
The AI employee offering is not endorsed by the majority of pilots and cabin crew.
The plan of the 209 employees is to get each person to contribute up to Rs 1 lakh; will own 51% of AI and the investor will have the remaining 49% stake. AI has collective debt and liabilities of more than Rs 90 billion.
The AI is deeply divided into narrow body (formerly Indian Airlines) and wide body (formerly IA) lines. Aside from the huge financial challenges, whoever gets AI will have to get the employees they choose to retain to fake those fissures and work together for the airline – something that the fusion of AI and AI over a decade ago could never accomplish.
New York-based Interups Inc said it will file its EoI on Monday. “We are proposing that AI will continue as is (base) with employees owning 51% and Interups NRI group owning 49%. The capital (will be) fully invested by NRI. 51% will be offered to volunteer and continuous employees in the consortium acquired by the airline. No capital investment required … We have 27,635 US-based NRI-owned qualified retirement asset accounts. Laxmi prasad he told TOI.
The Interups website describes it as “a publicly traded company dedicated to the business of identifying and investing in business opportunities or transactions, either directly or on behalf of its stakeholders, affiliates, associate concerns, and customers.”
It was learned that Tata Group submitted its EoI for AI over the weekend. Brought to you through its low-cost group airline AirAsia India, the Tatas -Who founded AI in 1932- is the pioneer to reconquer the Maharaja.
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