A handful of suitors have shown some sort of interest in Jet Airways and so the company is likely to hold a meeting today and may extend the deadline for submission of expression of interest (EoI), say sources.
The response for both the rounds of bidding that the lenders had tried earlier for Jet Airways since the company was admitted into National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had been very poor. However, now the lenders are hoping that Hinduja Group may come forward because the chairman of the group had made a statement that they would be interested in bidding for Jet.
According to sources, the lenders have now decided to consider extending the bid deadline for submission of EoI, which was earlier set for January 6, 2020, as they are hopeful of one more player coming forward.
Interestingly, one of the Dubai-based funds has already submitted an EoI for Jet. There was also another domestic fund backed by a UK entity, which has previously shown interest, say sources.
However, Synergy Group which was the sole bidder in the first round but had not submitted a binding bid and so one is not hopeful of them coming back this time around.
The second important point for the lenders to consider today would be the sale of Jet Airways’ Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) property in Mumbai. HDFC had given a loan to Jet on the basis of that property using that as security. So the lenders would vote on monetising it, using the proceeds to repay HDFC Bank and the rest of it to the other lenders.
These are the two key items to watch out for. The meeting is scheduled for 2:30pm.