NEW DELHI: The Air India employee consortium that had put in an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the privatisation of the national airline, has failed to make the cut to the next round.
The consortium’s bid was rejected as it failed to meet the eligibility criteria. With this fresh disqualification, now only two players are left in the race to acquire the Maharaja.
While Tata Sons’ interest to own the airline, which it had started, is known, SpiceJet’s promoter Ajay Singh is said to have submitted an Expression of Interest in his personal capacity. Neither SpiceJet nor Singh have commented on the bid yet.
The airline’s commercial director Meenakshi Malik, quoting an email sent to her by the Transaction Advisor Ernst & Young, in a letter to AI employees detailed why the consortium hasn’t been shortlisted.
“The EOI and the supporting documents submitted by you have been duly evaluated and have been found to not fulfil the eligibility requirements set out in the Preliminary Information Memorandum (as amended) (PIM) issued in respect of the strategic disinvestment of Air India Limited (AI) and is liable for disqualification, including on account of: (A) non-submission of required three years audited financial statements for foreign consortium member...; (B) non-submission of information or details by IB... for investments in offshore companies, which form substantial part of Net Worth of foreign consortium member...; and (C) the Foreign consortium member not being an appropriately regulated Foreign Investment Fund as defined in the PIM,” the email noted.
The consortium had received support from NRI businessman Laxmi Prasad and his New York-based Interups Fund.
Separately, Kolkata-based businessman Pawan Ruia has also submitted an EoI, status of which is not known. However, the details of the qualified interested bidders (QIBs) has not been disclosed so far.