Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan are the new owners of Jet Airways

Over 97 per cent Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Jet Airways voted in favour of the resolution plan submitted by the consortium of Financial advisory firm Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan, a UAE-based entrepreneur, said people close to the developments.

On Saturday, in a BSE statement, Ashish Chhawcharia, the resolution professional appointed by the NCLT for the revival of Jet Airways said, “The resolution process submitted by Mr. Murari Jalan and Mr. Florian Fritsch has been duly approved by the CoC.” Fritsch is the Chairman of Kalrock Capital

In the fourth attempt of inviting EoIs for Jet in July this year, two of the four shortlisted bidders’ consortia submitted a bid. According to the IBC protocol, the winning bidder required at least 66 per cent of the total votes to win.

Speaking to

BusinessLine , Chhawcharria said that “It has been a long and tough journey. However, we have achieved an important milestone today. This wouldn't have been possible without the support of the lenders if they wouldn't have been patient for four attempts to fund a suitable buyer. I am sure the lenders saw more value in reviving Jet than to liquidate its assets.” He added that the team hopes to complete the next steps soon and “MakeJetFlyAgain” soon.

 

“This is one big step towards recapturing the skies. Jet always had the potential. It took longer than expected to reach this stage. Nevertheless, we hope things will catch pace very soon,” Amit Kelkar, Lead Engineer, who has worked for 23 years with Jet said.

According to sources, the other consortium, comprising Flight Simulation Technique Centre Pvt Ltd, Big Charter Pvt Ltd along with Imperial Capital Investments LLC (ICIL) secured approximately 10 per cent of votes. “The lenders saw more merit, equity value and Return of Investment in the Jalan-Kalrock consortium,” the person said.

Another person added that Mandavia’s bid got support from mainly the Gulf lenders.

BusinessLine had reported in September this year that the CoC was likely to pick Jalan’s resolution plan as it was more fructifying. The person quoted above also said that this consortium did not receive votes from Axis Bank and Bacleys. Though BusinessLine was not able to confirm this information immediately.

The airline which was grounded in April 2019 over unpaid dues and multiple defaults. Both the bidders, in their resolution plan, had proposed to the lenders that they were willing to liquidate the assets and reinvest the money in the revival of the airline.

A year and a half post its temporary grounding, Jet Airways’ resolution professional, Ashish Chhawchharia has received claims of over ₹36,090 crore, however, only claims the team admitted worth ₹4,640 crore.

For the past eight days, Jet’s stock has been trading at the upper circuit. They have seen a jump from ₹31.55 to ₹40.15 apiece ever since.