Jet Airways has officially denied news reports stating that a consortium of Kalrock Capital and UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan have been chosen as the new owners of the suspended airline. In a filing with the stock exchanges, the company said that these news items are false and misleading.
The voting process by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) is still ongoing and a winner of the bid will be chosen once the voting process concludes, which is expected on October 16.
“This is to clarify to all market participants and stakeholders that such news items are false and misleading and must be disregarded. The Committee of Creditors has not concluded the e-voting process under Section 30(4) of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code. The Resolution Professional shall make appropriate disclosures before the stock exchange after the voting process has been duly concluded,” the company said in the regulatory filing.
Kalrock managing partner Igor Starha, however, confirmed the story to the Economic Times, with the business daily quoting him as saying, “Our consortium was chosen by the committee of creditors in a meeting that concluded this [Wednesday] evening.”
However, Jet Airways told the stock exchanges that the Jalan-Kalrock consortium intimated the Resolution Professional Ashish Chhawchharia that it did not make any statement claiming to have been chosen as the successful resolution applicant.
Moneycontrol also reported that Manoj Madnani, Board Member of Kalrock capital denied the news and said that his office in London had said ‘no comments’ when a reporter reached out.
"The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium has not made any comment on the ongoing resolution process of Jet Airways and/or regarding its submitted resolution plan for Jet Airways (India) Ltd and fully respects the current process as the lenders are still deliberating on the matter and have not reached a conclusion yet,” Moneycontrol quoted him as saying.
Deb-ridden Jet Airways suspended operations in April last year after it ran out of cash and was subsequently put under insolvency. Jet owes banks Rs 8,000 crore, with total claims (including vendors) totalling to Rs 40,000 crore.
On October 3, after the committee of creditors met, two bids were finalised: Haryana-based Flight Simulation Technique Centre, Mumbai-based Big Charter and Abu Dhabi’s Imperial Capital Investments; and the other consortium comprising Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan.
The CoC will now evaluate these two bids and finalise one by October 16.
After the news of Kalrock-Jalan consortium being chosen, the stock of Jet Airways surged nearly 5% to Rs 30.10 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).