In a first, Jet Airways to sell 24% stake in Abu Dhabhi’s Etihad for Rs 2,050 crore

April 25, 2013

Abu_Dhabhis_Etihad

Mumbai, Apr 25: Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad finally enacted a well choreographed tango, clinching the first foreign direct investment ( FDI) deal after foreign airlines were allowed part- ownership of their Indian rivals.

On Wednesday, the Jet Airways board cleared preferential allotment of shares (at Rs 754 apiece) to Etihad, giving the latter a 24% direct stake in India's second largest airline by market share. Etihad will pay $379 million (about Rs 2,058 crore) for the stake, valuing Jet Airways at $1.57 billion, which is 32% higher than the current market value of the domestic carrier.

Etihad will take two board seats even as Goyal will hold 51% stake and remain non-executive chairman of Jet Airways. The Abu Dhabi airline will separately take majority shares in JetPrivilege, the frequent flyer unit of Jet Airways, for $150 million. It has already paid another $70 million to purchase Jet's slots at London's Heathrow airport.

The deal also has the potential to make Abu Dhabi the biggest emerging hub for Indian globe-trotters. Jet said it would establish a Gulf gateway in Abu Dhabi and expand its global reach through Etihad. "It's a game-changing opportunity for Etihad, and a game-changing opportunity for India," Kapil Kaul, regional head of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), told Reuters.

Late in the evening, India and Abu Dhabi governments as part of bilateral pacts agreed to increase the flying rights between the two countries to approximately 50,000 seats per week from the current 13,600 per week.

"This transaction further strengthens the balance sheet of Jet Airways and, more importantly, underpins future revenue streams, which will accelerate our return to sustainable profitability and liquidity," said Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal.

Etihad president and chief executive James Hogan added, "It (the deal) is expected to bring immediate revenue growth and cost synergy opportunities, with our initial estimates of a contribution of several hundred million dollars for both airlines over the next five years."

Eithad becomes the first big full service global airline to buy into the India story where travel is expected to triple to 159 million in the next 10 years. Earlier this year, Kuala Lumpur based low cost carrier AirAsia announced a joint venture with Tata Group to float a new airline.

The multi-layered deal-making was a complex affair aided by a battery of law firms—Economic Laws Practice, Gagrats, Amarchand Mangaldas and DLA Piper—and investment banks Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and HSBC. The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, which bankers and lawyers expect to come by in the next three months.

In the first phase, people familiar with the transaction, said that Goyal will sell 5% of Jet Airways through an offer for sale (OFS) to comply with the new 25% public shareholding norms. Currently, public shareholding in Jet Airways stands at 20%. This is being done as Sebi rules require a company to first adhere to public shareholding norms before making a preferential allotment.

Goyal and his family through their holding company Tail Winds hold 80% in Jet currently. The pugnacious Indian aviation entrepreneur founded the airline 21 years ago. It now operates a fleet of 100 aircraft and flies to 73 destinations in India and 20 overseas.

People in the legal circles said that the Goyal family will transfer their interests in Tail Winds, which is an overseas corporate body (OCB) incorporated in Isle of Man, a tax haven to their personal names/entities, which will be the new holding company of Jet. This is being done as OCBs are no longer recognized by the RBI and an OCB can't take fresh positions in equity or debt. However, they added, since Tail Winds was given an exemption, the promoter would check with the banking regulator whether they have to the restructure their holding before the launch of the OFS scheme.

The deal with Etihad will bring in fresh money to Jet that will be used to retire debt, which stands at $2.3 billion. Set up in 2003, Etihad, with a fleet of 70 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, serves 86 cities in West Asia, Africa, Australia, Asia, US and Europe.

"The price is good for Jet. I think Etihad may have paid over the odds slightly, but with Kingfisher out of the picture there is only one full service heavyweight in town, and that's Jet," Sudeep Ghai, partner at consultancy Athena Aviation told Reuters.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has gone into self-quarantine after developing sore throat and fever, and will get himself tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, officials said on Monday.

They said the chief minister, who is also a diabetic, was feeling unwell since Sunday afternoon.

"He has mild fever and sore throat since Sunday afternoon. As advised by doctors, the chief minister will undergo COVID-19 test on Tuesday morning," officials said.

Officials said the CM had attended a Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning and thereafter, he did not attend any meeting.

The chief minister has been holding most of his meetings via video conferencing from his official residence for past two days.

This come as the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital crossed the 28,000-mark with 1,282 fresh infections while the death toll climbed to 812 on Sunday, a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government said. According to the health bulletin, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi rose to 28,936 with 1,282 fresh cases.

A total of 51 fatalities were reported on June 6, the bulletin said, adding that these lives were lost between May 8 and June 5. It, however, said the cumulative death figure refers to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, according to a report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of the case-sheets received from various hospitals.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 15,2020

Srinagar, Jan 15: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday evening allowed mobile Internet in parts of Jammu region and broadband in establishments providing essential services, days after the Supreme Court ordered a review of the curbs imposed in the Union Territory.

The order comes into effect from January 15 and shall remain in force for seven days, a government communication said.

In a three-page order, the administration asked Internet service providers to offer broadband facility (with Mac binding) to all institutions dealing with essential services such as hospitals, banks and government offices.

In order to facilitate tourism, the broadband Internet services would be provided to hotels and tour and travel establishments, the order said.

Mac Binding essentially means to enforce a client machine to work from a particular Internet Protocol address.

"Prior to giving such facility, the service providers have been asked to install necessary firewalls and carry out white-listing of sites that would enable government websites and website dealing with essential services like e-banking," the order said.

However, all social media sites remain out of bounds. "There shall be complete restrictions on social media applications allowing peer-to-peer communication and virtual private network applications for the time being," the order said.

The institutions and government offices that are being provided Internet access shall be responsible to prevent misuse, according to the order.

It said the 2G mobile connectivity on post-paid mobiles for accessing white-listed websites including e-banking will be allowed in districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi -- all in the Jammu region.

The order said that the police has brought material relating to the terror modules operating in Jammu and Kashmir including handlers from across the border who are attempting to aid and incite people by transmission of fake news and targeted messages through use of Internet.

The relaxation came days after the Supreme Court said access to the Internet is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution.

The SC verdict had come on Friday on a batch of pleas challenging the curbs imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre's abrogation of provisions of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

The court had also asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review within a week all orders imposing curbs in the Union Territory.

It had asked the J-K administration to restore Internet services in institutions such as hospitals and educational places providing essential services.

The J-K administration's Tuesday communication said that in view of the Supreme Court directions, the situation has been reviewed and Internet has been opened whereever it was possible keeping in view the security consideration.

In Kashmir, 400 additional Internet kiosks will be established, besides the 900 terminals which are already operational in the Valley.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jan 4: The Supreme Court on Thursday extended till June 12 its earlier order of May 15 asking the government not to take any coercive action against companies and employers for violation of Centre's March 29 circular for payment of full wages to employees for the lockdown period.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah reserved the verdict on a batch of petitions filed by various companies challenging the circular of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued on March 29 asking the employers to pay full wages to the employees during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the proceedings conducted through video conferencing, the top court said there was a concern that workmen should not be left without pay, but there may be a situation where the industry may not have money to pay and hence, the balancing has to be done.

Meanwhile, the apex court asked the parties to file their written submissions in support of their claims.

The top court on May 15 had asked the government not to take any coercive action against the companies and employers who are unable to pay full wages to their employees during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Centre also filed an affidavit justifying its March 29 direction saying that the employers claiming incapacity in paying salaries must be directed to furnish their audited balance sheets and accounts in the court.

The government has said that the March 29 directive was a "temporary measure to mitigate the financial hardship" of employees and workers, specially contractual and casual, during the lockdown period and the directions have been revoked by the authority with effect from May 18.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.