Air India Assets Holding raises Rs 7,985 cr more through bond sale

Raising funds for the third time in little over a month, Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL) on Thursday raised Rs 7,985 crore through bond sale, which was oversubscribed.

A special purpose vehicle of Air India, AIAHL has mopped up a total of Rs 21,985 crore by way of bond issues since September 16 and the proceeds would be utilised to repay debt of the national carrier.

The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday said the third bond issue of AIAHL was fully subscribed. The issue of 10-year tenure bonds worth Rs 1,000 crore with a green shoe option of Rs 7,064 crore received bids to the tune of Rs 15,100 crore.

These bonds have been subscribed at a rate of 7.39 per cent.

"The company received bids worth Rs 15,100 cr. The company has decided to accept the issue of Rs 7,985 crore," the ministry said in a tweet.

AIAHL had raised Rs 7,000 crore each on September 16 and October 10, respectively.

The government is preparing to divest its stake in loss-making Air India and the final contours are expected to be finalised in the coming days. The airline has a debt burden of more than Rs 54,000 crore.

AIAHL was set up for warehousing accumulated working capital loan not backed by any asset along with four subsidiaries -- Air India Air Transport Services Ltd, Airline Allied Services Ltd, Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) and Hotel Corporation of India Ltd (HCI) -- and non-core assets, including painting and artefacts.