Jet lenders to take a call on fresh EoIs, voting to conclude by May 18

If lenders favour fresh EoIs, this will be the third time they would have called for EoIs. No positive result in previous two attempts as no party came forward with a concrete plan

Lenders of beleaguered Jet Airways will vote on calling for fresh expression of interest (EoI) for the defunct airline. The voting will conclude by May 18. If lenders decide in favour of fresh EoIs, this will be the third time they would have called for EoIs for Jet. The last two attempts have not yielded any positive result as none of the interested parties came forward with a concrete plan.

The criteria for bidding has also been revised. Bidders will need to have a net worth or assets under management of Rs 500 crore to be able to participate. The previous criteria was of Rs 1,000 crore.

This has been done because liquidation will not yield any value for lenders. Earlier, the bankruptcy tribunal had extended the corporate insolvency resolution process of Jet by 90 days. Jet’s 270 day CIRP ended in mid-March.

The NCLT has already said that the period of lockdown will be excluded from the CIRP period so Jet will have ample time to call fresh EoIs. Earlier, South America based Synergy Group, New Delhi based Prudent ARC and Russia based Far East Development Fund had expressed interest in reviving Jet but did not submit a concrete plan.

Jet had shut its operations in April 2019 and was taken to the insolvency court two months after by its lenders. As of March, over 20,000 claims had been made totaling around Rs 37,000 crore. Workmen and employees have claimed more than Rs 1,400 crore and financial creditors have claimed over Rs 11,000 crore from the defunct airline.