Budget carrier Go Airlines gets Sebi's go-ahead for Rs 3,600 crore IPO

Budget carrier Go Airlines, which has rebranded itself as 'Go First', has received market regulator Sebi's go-ahead for an initial public offer worth Rs 3,600 crore.

The airline plans to garner up to Rs 3,600 crore through sale of shares, according to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). It also plans to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore by way of a pre-IPO (Initial Public Offer) placement.

The carrier, which filed its preliminary papers for the IPO in May, received its observations on August 26, according to Sebi's latest update on processing status of the draft offer documents. The information was updated on August 27 and made public on Monday.

In Sebi parlance, issuance of observations implies its go-ahead for the IPO. In June, Sebi had kept in abeyance the processing of Go Airlines' draft papers for the initial share sale.

From the net IPO proceeds, the airline plans to utilise over Rs 2,015.81 crore towards pre-payment or scheduled repayment of all or a portion of certain outstanding borrowings, according to the DRHP.

An amount of Rs 279.26 crore would be for "replacement of letter of credits, which are issued to certain aircraft lessors towards securing lease rental payments and future maintenance of aircraft, with cash deposit".

Further, the carrier plan to repay dues of Rs 254.93 crore to Indian Oil Corporation for fuel supplied to it, as per the DRHP.

The Wadia group owns 73.33 per cent stake in the carrier while the remaining shareholding is with other entities, including Baymanco Investments Ltd. The latter holds 21.05 per cent stake.

Other are Sea Wind Investment and Trading Company Ltd (3.76 per cent shareholding), Heera Holdings & Leasing Pvt Ltd, Nidhivan Investments & Trading Company Pvt Ltd and Sahara Investments Pvt Ltd -- all the four entities have 0.62 per cent stake each in the airline.

Global coordinators and Book Running Lead Managers to the issue are ICICI Securities, Citi and Morgan Stanley.

At present, three scheduled carriers are listed on the domestic bourses. They are IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways.

Jet Airways, which shuttered operations in April 2019, is undergoing insolvency resolution process. In June, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved a resolution plan for the airline by Jalan Kalrock consortium.