look news india
Mumbai: India's bankrupt airline GoFirst recently received two bids for revival. However, the bid did not meet the expectations of the lenders, i.e. the banks that had given loans to Go First. Now, following a request from the lenders, one of the two bidders has increased its bid amount. News agency Reuters has given this information quoting sources.
How much did the bidder increase the bid amount?
Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director of SpiceJet, which provides low-cost flight services, jointly bid with Busybee Airways to be the first to go. He had earlier bid about Rs 16 billion for Go First. But, after the request of the banks, both the companies increased their bids to Rs 1 to 1.5 billion. Busy Bee's majority shareholder Nishant Pitti is the CEO of online travel platform EaseMyTrip.
When did go first go bankrupt?
Go First had filed for bankruptcy in May last year. It has received two financing bids as part of its bankruptcy process. The second bid was from Sharjah-based Sky One Airways.
However, both bids fell well short of the expectations of the Committee of Creditors (COC). This also included big cuts. This is the reason why banks have asked both the bidders to increase their bids.
GoFirst said in its bankruptcy filing that its list of creditors includes Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank and Deutsche Bank. All of them owe Go First more than Rs 65 billion.
The lender is in talks with Sky One through bank resolution professionals to raise its bid. However, there has been no response from their side yet.
Debtors' meeting will be held next week
A creditors' meeting is scheduled for early next week. If there is no positive response from Sky One to increase the bid, the creditors will discuss a joint bid of SpiceJet and Busybee. Credit banks may inform bidders about their decision by the end of this month.