Two major changes have been made in the expression of interest document to pick up to a 75 per cent stake in ailing Jet Airways — the bidders can restructure the debt of the airline and the last date to submit EoI extended to April 12 from April 10.
The banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), also said that the bidders in a consortium must furnish individual solvency certificates.
The airline, meanwhile, continued to roll around in turbulent conditions on Wednesday. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has stopped fuel supply for the non-payment of dues, while a European cargo agent seized one of its wide-body planes at the Amsterdam airport over payments.
In a clarification to its April 8 invitation for EoI on change in control and management of Jet Airways, the lenders gave interested parties an option to restructure the airline’s existing debt facilities, put at over Rs 8,000 crore, and infuse funds through loans.
The option to restructure the airline’s debt facilities or infuse more funds was not given in the EoI document released on Monday.
“While all soft copies of the EoIs are required to be submitted by the due date, the hard copies may be submitted by April 14, 2019,” the lender said in a set of clarifications issued regarding the bid document.
According to the EoI document issued on Monday, the last date for the submission of initial bids was April 10. The lenders on Wednesday extended the deadline to April 12 and the bidders have to submit their bids by 6pm.
The banks have appointed SBI Capital Markets to assist them in the formulation of a resolution plan, which includes undertaking a competitive bidding process.
SBI Caps on Wednesday said in a statement: “We are in receipt of some EoIs and some more persons have expressed desire to participate if additional time is provided. Accordingly, to allow better participation, the domestic lenders have agreed for extension of the timeline for submission of EoI.”
Solvency certificate
“Bidders are required to provide the solvency certificate ... on their letterhead and certified by managing director/ full time director / chief executive officer of the bidder or a person holding an equivalent position in the bidder,” it said. It further clarified in the case of a consortium, each member has to submit a solvency certificate, which is a proof of an entity’s financial stability.
The bids will be submitted in two stages — the EoI stage, which comprises the submission and evaluation of the EoIs and selection of the qualified bidders; and later the bid stage, which will see the submission and evaluation of the bids and the selection of the successful bidder.
Meanwhile, aviation regulator DGCA announced it had de-registered seven Boeing 737-800 aircraft of Jet Airways on Wednesday, allowing its lessors to take the planes out of the country so that it can be leased to any other airline.
Truncated fleet
Jet Airways has further reduced its fleet to 14 aircraft for operation for Thursday, an airline source said. Of the 14 aircraft, eight are wide-body planes generally used for long-haul international operations, the source said. On Tuesday, it operated 22 of 26 planes in the fleet,” the source said.
The Telegraph
