After Etihad declined to bail out Jet Airways on Monday, Anil Agarwal-led Volcan Investments has decided to withdraw its Expression of Interest (EoI).
On Saturday, Volcan Investments had submitted their EoI for a stake in the airline.
In a statement by the Agarwal's family trust-led Volcan, the company said, "The EoI for Jet Airways by Volcan was exploratory in nature. On further evaluation and considering other priorities, we intend to not pursue this further."
Why did Etihad step back?
In response to BusinessLine's query,
Earlier it was said that Mumbai-based Hinduja Group and Etihad were to partner to propose an EoI for the airline.
The spokesperson added, "Etihad presented a conditional expression of interest to reinvest in Jet as a minority stakeholder, with an agreed partner, but unfortunately this did not materialise. Etihad remained engaged in the process, but despite the endeavours of everyone involved there remained very significant issues relating to Jet’s previous liabilities. Regrettably, in these circumstances, it was neither feasible for nor responsible of Etihad to reinvest in Jet at this time," A spokesperson of Etihad said.
“Naresh Goyal, the promoter of the airline held 51 per cent stake. The Mumbai-headquartered Jetparterend with the Abu Dhabi-based airline in 2013 with later held 24 per cent stake in the airline "at a time when Jet needed significant financial support," Etihad said.
The Resolution Professional (RP) appointed for Jet Airways had, earlier, set a deadline of August 3. Since the RP did not receive any EoIs, the last day to submit the bid the EoI was extended to August 10.
Players including Hinduja, Etihad, Apollo Tyres, AdiGro, among others were seemingly interested in buying Jet Airways’assets though formal bids are yet to be placed by anyone.
However, the reports suggested that the airline has not submitted EoI for the company. Etihad held 24 per cent stake in the company in the airline that was grounded on April 18.
After its grounding, State Bank of India , the lead lender dragged the airline to the NCLT to recover dues. Ashish Chhawchharia, the RP, had received 16,643 claims worth ₹ 24,888 crore from financial, operational and other creditors. Only claims of 33 financial creditors worth ₹8,463 crore had been admitted.
According to sources, the company has six Boeing 777, three Boeing 737 and 2 A330 owned by the airline, along with engineering spare parts, and a few properties.