One of the two contenders vying for bankrupt Indian airline Go First has reportedly increased its bid following encouragement from lenders, according to two banking sources and an individual familiar with the matter on Tuesday.
The consortium, led by budget carrier SpiceJet’s managing director Ajay Singh and including Busy Bee Airways, upped their bid by an amount ranging between 1 billion rupees ($12.06 million) and 1.5 billion rupees, as per one of the sources. The original bid had been at 16 billion rupees.
As the sources were not authorized to speak to the media, they requested anonymity.
Requests for comments from Reuters directed to Go First’s resolution professional overseeing the bankruptcy process, Ajay Singh, SpiceJet, and Nishant Pitti, the majority shareholder of Busy Bee and CEO of online travel platform EaseMyTrip, did not yield immediate responses.
Go First, which filed for bankruptcy in May last year, received two financial bids during its bankruptcy proceedings, with the second bid coming from Sharjah-based Sky One Airways, as previously reported by Reuters.
“The bid amounts from both bidders fell well below the expectations of the Committee of Creditors (CoC), necessitating a substantial increase in the bids,” noted a banker from a state-run bank with exposure to Go First.
Among the creditors listed in its bankruptcy filing, Go First owes a total of 65.21 billion rupees to institutions such as Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, and Deutsche Bank.
The CoC is currently engaged in discussions with Sky One Airways, according to the banker. However, Sky One Airways did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment.
The joint bid from Ajay Singh and Busy Bee will be deliberated upon in the upcoming CoC meeting, likely to take place early next week, stated another banker. Lenders are expected to respond to the bidders by March 28, as per this banker’s information.
