Jet Airways CoC to seek 2 months extension for bids from NCLT

Jet Airways' Committee of Creditors (CoC) on Thursday decided to approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to seek two months extension of deadline for submission of bids, which expired on Tuesday.

The CoC may seek an extension in the deadline in the face of no potential bidder coming forward and also due to the ongoing coronavirus concerns as it feels that it may not get the desired results if it were to go for liquidation of assets at this stage, according to sources privy to the development.

The bankers' committee had on February 18 set the new deadline of March 10, for submission of bids for the grounded airline after South American conglomerate Synergy Group and New Delhi-based Prudent ARC failed to meet the deadline.

According to sources, Synergy Group had backed out of the bidding process over the slot issues.

The March 10 deadline was set after Russia's Far East Asia Development Fund evinced interest in Jet Airways.

Against this backdrop, the CoC extended the deadline for submission of bids to March 10.

The cash-strapped airline, which was grounded in April 2019, owes more than Rs 8,000 crore to banks, with those from the public sector having significant exposure.

The NCLT on June 20, 2019, had admitted the insolvency petition filed by the lenders' consortium led by State Bank against Jet Airways. The tribunal has also appointed Ashish Chhauchharia of Grant Thornton as the resolution professional for the crippled airline.