Rakesh Gangwal mops up Rs 6,786 crore from 6% stake sale in Indigo

At the end of December 2023 quarter, Rakesh Gangwal directly held 11.72 per cent stake in the company, the shareholding pattern data shows

Co-founder Rakesh Gangwal on Monday divested a 6 per cent stake in InterGlobe Aviation (Indigo) through bulk deals to mop up Rs 6,786 crore.

He sold 23 million shares at Rs 3,016 a piece, the data from the stock exchanges showed.

Morgan Stanley Asia picked up shares worth Rs 633 crore. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan were the investment banks handling the share sale.  

The company’s shares ended Monday’s session 3.63 per cent higher on the BSE at Rs 3,214.25.

Before the stake sale, the Gangwal family held about 25.2 per cent in Indigo, which operates the country’s largest airline, IndiGo.

At the end of the December 2023 quarter, Gangwal directly held 11.72 per cent in the company, the shareholding pattern data shows.

Gangwal and promoter group Shobha Gangwal and The Chinkerpoo Family Trust have pared down their holding in the company on several occasions in the past few months.

Shobha Gangwal and JP Morgan Trust Company of Delaware are the trustees of The Chinkerpoo Family Trust.

The Gangwal family has been reducing its stake in the airline over the past couple of years following differences, including corporate governance issues, with IndiGo co-founder Rahul Bhatia.

In September 2022, the family had sold about 2.8 per cent through block deals for around Rs 2,000 crore, bringing down its holding to 33.78 per cent. In February 2023, it further reduced its stake by 4 per cent for around Rs 2,900 crore in block deals.

Likewise, in August 2023, Shobha Gangwal, wife of Rakesh Gangwal, sold a 3 per cent stake or 11.52 million shares between Rs 2,441 and Rs 2,427 per share to mop up Rs 2,802 crore.

With the stake sale in August 2023, the Gangwal family’s shareholding in InterGlobe fell to about 25 per cent. With the latest stake sale, the family now owns about 19 per cent in the airline.

One of the founders of IndiGo, Gangwal was president and chief executive officer of US Airways Group from 1998 to 2001. He later served as head of travel technology firm Worldspan Technologies before setting up IndiGo with Bhatia.

The stock had hit a record high of Rs 3,300 on February 5. In the past four months, it has rallied nearly 30 per cent.

With five consecutive quarters of profit, IndiGo continues to recover from the losses of Covid and has now become net worth positive again.