Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Government looking to shift more debt out of Air India balance sheet before disinvestment

Mumbai: The government is looking to shift more debt from the balance sheet of disinvestment-bound Air India to asset holding company AIAHL to further sweeten the deal for prospective buyers, according to a senior airline official.
The government plans to sell 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier. In efforts to make the disinvestment more attractive, the carrier has already transferred Rs 29,474 crore of debt to Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
 "We are evaluating if we can take out some more debt from the balance sheet and park it in the SPV. Earlier, our plan was to give debt in proportion to assets. As part of that, we have already transferred almost half of the total debt to AIAHL," the official in the know of the development told PTI.
 The official also said the government is trying to work out some formula to further make the deal more sweeter. On Monday, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the government is working on the debt issue of Air India to make it more attractive to buyers.
 "However, investors thought that the amount of debt retained by the carrier was not going to sustain so we are working on that also. We will see to it that the debt being parked with Air India is such that any bidder will be able to make it sustainable and if he feels that he can invest and improve profitably," Kharola had said.
 17/12/19 PTI/Economic Times
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

0 comments:

Post a Comment