New Delhi: Air India is likely to be handed over to the Tata group by the end of this week, senior government officials said on Monday.
After a competitive bidding process, the government on October 8 last year sold Air India to Tales Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tata group’s holding company, for Rs 18,000 crore.
In a tweet, ANI said, the disinvestment of Air India has been decided to take place on January 27, 2022.
The disinvestment of Air India has been decided on 27 January 2022. The balance sheet closing on January 20 is to be provided today, January 24 so that it can be reviewed by Tata and any changes made on Wednesday: Vinod Hejmadi, Director Finance, Air India in an email to employees
— ANI (@ANI) 24 January 2022
After that, on 11 October, a letter of intent (LOI) was issued to the Tata group confirming that the government was willing to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline. On October 25, the Center signed a share purchase agreement (SPA) for the deal.
The rest of the formalities regarding the deal are expected to be completed in the next few days and the airline will be handed over to the Tata group by the end of this week, officials said on Monday.
As a part of the deal, the Tata Group will also be handed over 50 per cent stake in Air India Express and ground handling arm Air India SATS.
Tata had on October 8 made an offer of Rs 15,100 crore by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and the sale of its 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier, beating the government-set reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore.
While this will be the first privatization since 2003–04, Air India will be the third airline brand in Tata’s stable, it holds a majority interest in Vistara, a joint venture with AirAsia India and Singapore Airlines Ltd.
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