UAE's Imperial Capital submits bid to acquire India's Jet Airways

Dubai - The cash-strapped airline stopped all operations indefinitely in April 2019.

The UAE-based Imperial Capital Investments LLC on Tuesday submitted its bid for India's once premium carrier Jet Airways, which gone into trouble since mid 2019.
"We have presented the resolution plan to the authorities. We have given them options for revival of the airline within a short period, including for the employees. They have a priority claim on overall realisation of the assets and of course our investments. We are trying to dedicate a huge sum of immediately realisable assets into one basket and that basket of money will be utilised for payment of employee dues in addition to stock options and phased induction of employees in the revived company," said Biraja Jena, chairman of Imperial Capital.
"We are also trying to create another basket and are giving an attractive offer to secured creditors in the most feasible manner so that they will run low risk for the future while the troubled airline reconfigures itself for a long-haul to future. Thirdly, we plan to start operations as soon as acquisition is complete with 8 to 10 planes," Jena told Khaleej Times in an interview on Tuesday.
The cash-strapped airline stopped all operations indefinitely in April 2019 after a consortium led by government-owned State Bank of India declined to extend more funds to keep it afloat. There are about 4,000 workers employed by Jet Airways as of now. In early July, four companies were shortlisted to bid for Jet Airways.
Imperial Capital was bidding along with its partners Flight Simulation Technique Centre Pvt Ltd; Big Charter Pvt. Ltd along with the other short listed consortium which include UK's Kalrock Capital Partners; Canada-based entrepreneur Sivakumar Rasiah; and Kolkata's Alpha Airways.
Only two companies Imperial Capital and Kalrock Capital are now competing for the troubled carrier.
Imperial Capital, which is a licensed private fund and investment company, has Dh2.30 billion worth of assets under management with interests in energy, healthcare, education, infrastructure and manufacturing industries. Its investor base is split in half between Asian and European stakeholders.
"We will be taking to the skies starting with domestic operations in the best possible manner during this crisis period and later we will opt for expanding domestic and our foray into overseas routes. We also want to start MRO activities (maintenance, repair and operations) service," added Jena.
Jena noted that they are creating enough provisions for the working capital for the entire process to go through smoothly. - waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com