NE BUSINESS BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JAN 27
After 69 years, the Tata Group on Thursday took back the ownership of national carrier Air India.
“The strategic disinvestment transaction of Air India successfully concluded today with transfer of 100 per cent shares of Air India to M/s Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control,” DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a tweet.
The strategic disinvestment transaction of Air India successfully concluded today with transfer of 100% shares of Air India to M/s Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control. A new Board, led by the Strategic Partner, takes charge of Air India. pic.twitter.com/wd5ZcUFomI
— Secretary, DIPAM (@SecyDIPAM) January 27, 2022
A new board, led by the strategic partner, takes charge of Air India, he added.
In October last year, Tata Group announced the winning bidder for Air India with a bid amount of Rs 18,000 crore. Tatas would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and takeover Rs 15,300 crore of the airline’s debt.
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“The Air India strategic disinvestment transaction has been completed today with Government receiving a consideration of Rs 2,700 crore from the Strategic Partner (M/s Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Tata Sons Pvt Ltd), retaining debt of Rs 15,300 crore in Air India and AIXL and transferring shares of Air India (100% per cent shares of Air India and its subsidiary AIXL and 50 per cent shares of AISATS) to the Strategic Partner,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
Will take considerable effort to rebuild Air India, says Ratan Tata
Tatas beat the Rs 15,100-crore offer by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and the reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore set by the government for the sale of its 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier.
Tata Sons Chairman meets PM ahead of official handover of Air India
Meanwhile, N Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons, who control the entire Tata conglomerate, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Thursday ahead of the official handover of Air India after the Tata group won the bid on October 8, 2021, leaving behind its competitor SpiceJet.
Tata won the bid with a whopping Rs 18,000 crore and took the Air India back after 69 years.
This meeting is the final call, in aviation lingo, that now Air India is no longer a government of India enterprise, and has become a private entity.
The meeting came after Air India handed over the balance sheet till January 20, 2022 to Talace, an aviation subsidiary of Tata Sons, who will manage the Air India, Air express and Air India’s ground handling service.
The Tata Group executives reviewed the balance sheet and had an option to ask for any correction till January 24, after that the government of India will hand over Air India, Air Express and its ground handling service to Tata Group, and with this 100 per cent disinvestment in Air India, a government PSU, will be completed.
