Jet Airways Board Looking For New Buyers

After the exit of Naresh Goyal and his wife from Jet Airways, the board of the airline is now looking for new buyers. One of the largest lenders of the airlines, the State Bank of India, and Naresh Goyal approached investor giant TPG Capital and the United States (U.S.) flight service, Delta Air Lines, for the same.

According to a senior SBI official, the SBI already began preliminary talks with TPG Capital, while Naresh Goyal is having discussions with Delta. While the talks are in full force, the sources said, the final results will only be declared after the banks ask for expressions of interest (EoIs) early next month.

“TPG is in touch but they being a PE fund are unlikely to take a majority stake. They may at best take some minority stake. Only airlines may be interested in buying a large stake. There may be other airlines interested which we will know only after the EoIs come in. This is all at a very preliminary stage right now so nothing can be said,” the official said in a statement regarding the issue.

This is not the first time TPG Capital showed interest in buying the stakes of Jet Airways. Last year, when Jet Privilege, the loyalty programme of Jet Airways, went up for sale, TPG Capital was extremely keen on buying it.

After Goyal agreed to bankruptcy charges, the state held banks took over the management of Jet Airways, they got a hold of 50.1 % stake in Jet Airways, thereby reducing Goyal’s holdings to 25.5 %.

Currently flying only 35 flights out of the fleet of 124 flights on its roster, Jet Airways is in deep financial trouble for the last couple of months. With the banks throwing the doors open to new buyers, the official bids will begin on the 9th of April. The last date for submitting the bids is the 30th of April.

Stay tuned for more updates.