Lenders to Jet Airways on Friday said they had received financial bids from Etihad Airways and a few unsolicited parties to acquire a stake in the grounded airline.

The consortium of 26 lenders had invited expressions of interest between April 8 and 12 and had received four preliminary bids. The lenders are offering a 31.2 to 75 per cent stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.

Friday was the last day for the qualified bidders, cherry picked after submitting their expressions of interest (EOIs) last month, to submit binding financial bids.

SBI Caps, which has been mandated to organise the sale, in a statement said, “Sealed bid from Etihad Airways has been received and the same will be submitted to lenders for examination.”

It has also received a few unsolicited offers, which the lenders may deliberate on subsequently, the statement said, adding the banks are likely to evaluate the bids next week. London-based AdiGro Aviation and British entrepreneur Jason Unsworth have reportedly made unsolicited offers.

Jet Airways ceased operations temporarily on April 17 because of acute financial distress. Earlier in the day, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar had said two unsolicited bids had come in while one more bid was expected.

“The SBI has made disproportionate efforts to keep Jet Airways flying,” Kumar said.

Gulf carrier Etihad, which acquired a 24 per cent stake in Jet in 2013, also evinced its interest to “re-invest” in a minority stake in the carrier.

“Etihad re-emphasises that it cannot be expected to be the sole investor, and that, amongst other requirements, additional suitable investors would need to provide the majority of Jet’s required recapitalisation,” Etihad said in the statement.

The Gulf airline said it has been working ‘consistently’ with key stakeholders over the past 15 months to help find a solution which would ensure Jet’s return as a viable and competitive airline.

Private equity firms IndiGo Partners and TPG, Etihad Airways and the sovereign fund NIIF were shortlisted on April 12 after the first round of bids. The airline owes more than Rs 8,000 crore to the consortium of lenders.

Jet founder Naresh Goyal, who was forced to step down from the airline on March 25 as part of a deal with lenders, had earlier partnered Future Trend Capital to submit a bid. But was forced to withdraw the offer after other bidders threatened to walk away.

Meanwhile, the officers and staff union of Jet Airways on Friday sought Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ intervention in resolving the crisis.

“Fadnavis has assured full support to work out a solution with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the civil aviation ministry after the last round of polling is completed,” said Kiran Pawaskar, president of the All India Jet Airways Officers and Staff Association.