The Committee of Creditors for Jet Airways is veering towards picking the resolution plan offered by the consortium comprising financial advisory firm Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan, a UAE-based entrepreneur.
Sources close to the ongoing debt resolution process told BusinessLine that negotiations are on with the bidders and a final decision is likely in October before the deadline set by the NCLT expires. Another consortium, comprising Flight Simulation Technique Centre Pvt Ltd, Big Charter Pvt Ltd along with Imperial Capital Investments LLC (ICIL), had also placed a financial bid.
According to sources, the offer made by Kalrock Capital is around ₹475 crore in equity and NCDs in addition to approximately ₹400 crore to meet the costs related to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). This includes the fees for the resolution professional and other coststo manage Jet Airways assets.
The offer by the other consortium, led by Sanjay Mandavia’s Flight Simulation Technique Centre, is understood to be around ₹770 crore but the cost of the CIRP may not be paid by FSTC. Both bidders have offered equity to the lenders in addition to cash upfront but the Kalrock consortium has offered higher equity than Mandavia. Sources said the bidders can change the offers over the next five days after which it will be put to vote. The winning bid will require at least 66 per cent of the lenders’ votes.
Claims worth over ₹36,090 crore, against Jet Airways were received, of which the RP has admitted claims worth around ₹14,640 crore. If the lenders do not accept either of the bids then the airline will be put up for liquidation. Sources said that the lenders are not in favour of liquidation because distress asset sale will get only about Rs 1,700 crore. Both bidders have told the lenders that they will cut down the employee strength to about 300 initially. At its peak, the airline had 22,000 employees, including 6,000 on contract. According to company sources, the company still has over 3,300 employees on its payroll. The bidders have also told lenders that they will also sell some of the assets and use the money in reviving the airline. Both have also sought clarity on the slots available to the airline at key domestic airports including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.