Jet Airways Insolvency: Two Entities Shortlisted To Submit Bids

The committee of creditors for Jet Airways (India) Ltd. has short-listed two entities to proceed with bidding for the airline from the list of three firms that had expressed initial interest.

The creditors have allowed South American conglomerate Synergy Group and Russia’s Treasury RA Creator to move to the next step of submitting bids, according to two people familiar with the matter. The creditors, however, decided to disqualify Panama-based Avantulo Group from the list of potential bidders for the beleaguered airline, the people said.

On Tuesday, the committee met to finalise the provisional list of bidders who will have access to the data room at Jet Airways and come up with a final resolution plan. At the meeting, the creditors noted that despite repeated requests for submitting eligibility documents, the Avantulo Group had failed to do so. The committee finally decided to move ahead with the resolution process with only two potential bidders, the people quoted above said.

The shortlisted bidders will be expected to submit their final resolution plans by October 14.

The committee of creditors on August 26 had decided to extend the deadline for submission of expression of interest till August 31. This was done in the hope that Jet Airways would be able to garner interest from potential bidders apart from the three mentioned above. However, no other bidders emerged.

Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal’s family trust fund Volcan Investment, which had submitted an expression of interest for Jet Airways on August 10, withdrew from the process within two days. Agarwal later clarified that Volcan’s expression of interest was only exploratory in nature.

State Bank of India, resolution professional Ashish Chhawchharia and Avantulo Group did not respond to emails sent on Wednesday.

According to the requirements set by the creditors and the resolution professional, any prospective bidder for Jet Airways must have a minimum net worth of Rs 1,000 crore or have funds worth Rs 1,000 crore available for investing in Indian companies. In case the bidder is a financial investor, the requirement was set at Rs 2,000 crore in asset under management or funds worth Rs 2,000 crore available for investment in Indian companies.

Financial creditors to Jet Airways have admitted claims worth Rs 8,300 crore to the resolution professional. Of this, domestic banks and financial institutions have admitted Rs 6,400 crore in claims, while foreign lenders have roughly Rs 1,600 crore in exposure. Lessors to Jet Airways have dues worth Rs 285 crore admitted.

Jet Airways stopped flight operations in April after it ran out of funds. Lenders, who had been trying to stitch together a rescue plan for the airline since January, finally referred the company for insolvency proceedings after all other restructuring options fell through.

On June 20, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal admitted Jet Airways for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The court appointed Chhawchharia as its resolution professional. The committee of creditors, on the tribunal’s orders, have been trying to finish the resolution process before the 180 day period prescribed under the law ends.