Tata Group, employees submit EOIs for Air India

Tata Sons, and a group of 219 employees in partnership with Interups AI, a US-based fund run by non-resident Indians, submitted Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the acquisition of Air India (AI, Mumbai Int’l), Air India Express (IX, Mumbai Int’l), and a 50% stake in ground handling agent AISATS, Indian media have reported. Tata Sons, an industrial conglomerate which already owns 51% stakes in full-service carrier Vistara (UK, Delhi Int’l) and low-cost carrier AirAsia India (I5, Bangalore Int’l), refused to comment on the report when queried by Reuters. In turn, Interups AI confirmed its submission to The Hindu Business Line. “We are proposing Air India Ltd to continue as is with employees to own 51% and the Interups NRI group to own 49%,” the fund’s chairman, Laxmi Prasad, said. As previously reported, the group of employees partnering with the fund is led by Commercial Director Meenakshi Mallik and involves a cross-section of staff members from various departments of the carrier. Following the passing of the December 14 deadline for EOIs, the Indian government will now evaluate the submissions and announce the public shortlist of potential investors by December 28, 2020. Investors will be notified by January 6 whether they were qualified to the next stage, wherein they will have to submit financial proposals. While the buyer can acquire a 100% stake in the airline, it has yet to be determined how much debt the new investor will have to assume. Under the original plan, the government planned to transfer INR233 billion rupees (USD3.15 billion) of debt, or just under 40% of the carrier’s total pre-COVID liabilities, to the new owner. However, in order to facilitate Air India’s privatisation, the government subsequently decided to allow investors to treat the amount of debt they are willing to absorb as a part of the bid.