Jet Airways lenders give time till January 15 for submission of EoIs

Lenders to the beleaguered Jet Airways have extended the deadline for submitting fresh expressions of interest (EoIs) to January 15 amid reports of Hinduja Group showing interest in investing, sources privy to the development said.

 

Earlier, the resolution professional of Jet, Ashish Chhawchharia, had informed the bankruptcy tribunal that two new investors had shown interest for investing in the airline. One of them is a foreign investor from West Asia and the other is an Indian-entity-backed by a UK investor.

 

Sources, however, said no fresh EoI had been submitted so far. The Hindujas have not formally submitted any EoI to the resolution professional and neither have the two other entities, which had earlier showed interest.

 

In the last committee of creditors’ meeting, the lenders had decided to call for fresh EoIs and set a deadline of January 6 for submission of EoIs. This came after South America-based Synergy Group, which emerged the sole bidder in the first round of bidding, failed to come up with a definitive resolution plan to revive the airline. The Synergy Group has also not submitted any fresh EoI.

 

Jet has completed 180 days of its insolvency proceedings and has extended the corporate insolvency process by another 90 days.

 

The Synergy Group had sought clarity on the availability of slots in the domestic as well as the international routes from the ministry of civil aviation before submitting a resolution plan. The ministry, however, wanted a resolution plan on the table before giving any assurances on slot allocation.

 

Interestingly, Jet stocks have gained 15 per cent in the past five trading days. It closed at Rs 32.60 on Thursday, up 5 per cent. Jet was admitted under the insolvency process on June 20 after bankers failed to find any takers despite months of negotiations. The airline stopped flying on April 17, leaving over 14,000 employees high and dry.

 

The airline has received claims from creditors worth Rs 36,090 crore of which Rs 14,640 crore has been admitted as on October 20.