Click to play videoNew Delhi: Naresh Goel's Jet Airways has bought Air Sahara and he has got the airline at a lower price than his initial bid.
From the Rs 2,200 crore quoted last January, Jet Airways has renegotiated the price down to Rs 1,450 crore.
Of this, Rs 500 crore has already been paid to Air Sahara as a bank guarantee last year. A down payment of Rs 400 crore will be made by April 20 and the remainder Rs 550 crore will be spread over four years.
"It is again going to be very good as far as the deal is concerned. There is no change in our thinking, it has never changed neither in January, nor in March or in June or now. What we are doing now is only going to help the shareholders," says Chairman of Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal.
But there are some missing links. Jet has already paid Rs 180 crore to Air Sahara for operations after the first agreement.
The prior valuation of Rs 2,200 crore included immovable properties and the helicopter division, whose value is estimated at Rs 120 crore. Both assets are not included now.
There is the accrued interest of Rs 50 crore on the Rs 500 crore already paid to Air Sahara. Jet has also taken on Rs 150 crore of Air Sahara's bad debts. Added up, this takes the actual cost of buying Air Sahara to Rs 1950 crore.
But the President of Air Sahara Alok Sharma is tight-lipped: "We are bound by confidential clauses."
Either way, analysts are not happy. Even at a 40 per cent lower valuation, very few in the industry are ready to give Jet Airways the benefit of doubt and making a decent profit. One part of their battle may be over but the next one begins for Jet Airways.
(With Karma Paljor in New Delhi)
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