Tata Sons emerge as the highest bidder for Air India
New Delhi, Oct 8 : The Centre on Friday declared Tata Sons' subsidiary Talace as the highest bidder for national carrier Air India under the divestment process.
Talace quoted an enterprise value of Rs 18,000 crore for 100 per cent equity shareholding of the Centre in Air India, along with that of Air India Express and AISATS, Divestment Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey announced.
The Centre had stipulated a reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore.
There were only two bidders in the final stage of divestment.
Beside the Tatas subsidiary, the second bidding entity was a consortium led by industrialist Ajay Singh, which quoted an EV of Rs 15,100 crore.
Conglomerate Tata Sons was touted to be the front-runner to get hold of the carrier.
Based on the bid results, Centre will enter into a sale purchase agreement (SPA) with Talace by December-end.
The decision to enter into the SPA with the Tatas was taken by the empowered Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism.
"The next step will be to issue the Letter of Intent (LoI) and then sign the Share Purchase Agreement following which, the conditions precedent would need to be satisfied by the successful bidder, the company and Government," an official communique said.
"It is expected that the transaction will be completed by December 2021."