NEW DELHI: Four parties have shown preliminary interest in investing in the grounded Jet Airways, whose resolution professional (RP) had floated expression of interests last month for selling a stake in the airline.
Reports said lenders were engaged with the interested parties, who are yet to submit a formal interest in the airline. It is expected that the lenders would extend the deadline for submitting EoI from the earlier deadline of August 3 in case they are unable to find suitors.
The Committee of Creditors (CoC) met on Thursday to discuss issues related to insolvency proceedings of the grounded airline.
The leading lender—the State Bank of India—is said to have approved Rs 10 crore in interim funding to the airline and other banks are also in the process of approving the same. To meet expenses associated with the insolvency proceedings, the lenders had approved interim funding of USD 10 million (about Rs 69 crore) for the airline last month.
The CoC also discussed the issue of releasing a month’s salary to the employees, as suggested by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). On June 20, the Mumbai bench of NCLT had admitted Jet Airways under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code after lenders referred it to the bankruptcy tribunal. The consortium had earlier tried selling a stake in the airline, but after a lot of buzz, they couldn’t find a suitor.
Earlier, the RP had said he had received claims worth over Rs 25,500 crore as of July 4. A consortium of 26 bankers has an exposure of over Rs 8,500 crore in the airline, while operational creditors excluding workmen and employees have made a claim of Rs 12,372 crore.