The handover of Air India to Tata Group is likely to be delayed by one month to January 2022
Tata Group’s takeover of Air India is likely to be delayed by a month
New Delhi:
On Monday, an official said Tata Group’s takeover of loss-making national carrier Air India will likely be delayed by a month until January 2022, due to the lengthy completion of formalities. expected.
In October, the government accepted the highest bid offered by a Tata Sons company for a 100% stake in Air India and Air India Express along with their 50% stake in ground handling company AISATS – First privatized company in 20 years.
At the time, the government stated that it wanted to complete the transactions, including Tatas paying out Rs 2,700 crore in cash, by the end of December.
Under the terms of the SPA, all handover formalities would have to be completed within 8 weeks, but this date can be extended by the buyer and seller and is being worked on in this case.
However, some regulatory approvals have yet to be given for handover and certain formalities have yet to be completed, the official, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
The process will be completed by January, he said.
On October 25, the government signed a share purchase agreement with Tata Sons to sell the national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Tata’s will pay Rs 2,700 cash and Rs 15,300 crore debt to the airline.
Another official explained that the cash component will come once the handover is complete.
Tatas beat an offer of Rs 15,100 by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and a starting price of Rs 12,906 set by the government for the sale of its 100% stake in the loss-making airline. .
Tatas will not retain non-core assets, such as Air India’s Vasant Vihar Housing colony, the Air India Building at Nariman Point, Mumbai, and the Air India Building in New Delhi.
Of the 141 Air India aircraft that Tatas will receive, 42 will be leased, while the remaining 99 will be owned by him.
While this will be the first privatization since 2003-04, Air India will be the third airline brand in Tatas’ stable of systems – it holds the majority interest in AirAsia India and Vistara, a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Limited.
