Air India Gets Six Bids For $1 Billion Loan To Buy Airbus Planes

New Delhi: Air India, the nation's flag carrier, said Monday it has received six bids to raise a $1 billion loan to fund the purchase of 21 Airbus planes
"The bids are currently under evaluation," Jitendra Bhargava, Air India's executive director for corporate communications, said. "We will be taking a decision soon."
Bhargava declined to disclose the names of the bidders.
S. Venkat, Air India's executive director in charge of finance, said Nov. 20 that the bidders included a consortium of U.K.-based Barclays PLC. and Germany's state-owned development bank KfW. Deutsche Bank AG is also one of the bidders, Venkat said.The carrier will likely finalize the loan in the next two or three weeks, Venkat had said.
Air India, run by the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd., was formed after the merger of state-run Indian Airlines and Air India in August 2007.Nacil inherited an order placed in 2005 for 111 planes - 68 Boeing and 43 Airbus - valued near $15 billion at list prices.
Nacil has so far raised more than $3 billion to buy 38 planes and expects the remaining 73 to join its fleet by 2012.
24/11/08 Santanu Choudhury/Dow Jones/EasyBourse.com, France

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Nov 2008, NACIL Nov 2008