Jet’s resolution professional invites expressions of interest by August 3

In an advertisement posted on the airline’s website and in newspapers, the RP, Ashish Chhawchharia, appointed by Jet Airways’ lenders, has set a deadline of August 3 for receipt of EoIs, August 6 as the date of issue of provisional list of prospective resolution applicants, and August 11 as the last date of submission of objections.

The advertisement stated that on August 14, final list of prospective resolution applicants will be issued. The final date for submission of resolution plans of these applicants will be September 5, it added. The estimated date for the submission of resolution plan by the RP to the National Company Law Tribunal for approval is September 20.

The airline’s assets include 14 aircraft including 10 Boeing planes – down from 124 before the grounding – and 49 per cent stake in Jet Privilege and a few buildings. Its liabilities are over Rs 36,000 cr, including more than Rs 10,000 cr of vendor dues, Rs 8,500 cr along with interest owed to the lenders, over Rs 3,000 cr in salary dues and more than Rs 13,500 cr in accumulated losses of the past three years.

The lenders also list spares, slots and routes as the assets of the Naresh Goyal-promoted airline which operated its last flight on April 17. The next hearing on the insolvency case and RP’s progress report is on July 23. The airline was sent to the NCLT on June 17, to recover loans of Rs 8,500 cr.

On June 20, NCLT admitted the insolvency petition filed by the lenders’ consortium led by State Bank against Jet Airways. Before it was sent to the NCLT, the banks, which own half of the shares in the airline, had sought expressions of interest from both strategic and financial investors to sell between 31.2 and 75 per cent stake.

The bankers received four non-binding EoIs in April, while Etihad Airways, which owns 24 per cent in the carrier, had submitted a conditional bid. But none of the bidders moved forward.