NEW DELHI: Jet Airways Crisis: Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has concluded the due-diligence process before it places its financial bid for acquiring Jet Airways. The other two potential bidders- TPG Capital and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) have also started their respective processes and are expected to bid jointly with Etihad.
SBI Caps last week had opened the window for potential bidders to examine the books of Jet Airways. The lenders now have set May 10 deadline for submitting the binding financial bids, the Hindu Business Line reported.
“Jet Airways has provided a data room where all the necessary documents, information and data related to the airline’s assets, debt, costs, governance information and information on employee strength among other things have been opened up for the bidders,” a source told the news daily. The bidding process according to the source is going ahead and none of the shortlisted companies (Etihad, TPG Capital and NIIF) as yet have said that they are withdrawing from it.
This comes at a time when the Civil Aviation Ministry is trying to calm the frayed nerves of potential bidders by saying that the vacated slots would be allocated to other airlines on an interim basis for three months and would be turned about once Jet Airways resumes operations.
While, the National Aviator’s Guild (NAG), the pilot body of Jet, has also planned to exercise the provisions of the Industrial Dispute Act to continue with its demand for salary dues payment. This can be a precursor to NAG filing a plea with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the report said. The pilot body earlier this week had organised an open house in Mumbai to discuss the same.
An NAG committee member said that the pilot body so far has followed all the procedures specified in the act and has also escalated the letter written to the Labour Ministry. However, going to the NCLT would be the next step for it.