Go First Bidder Ups Offer Amid Lenders' Push, Talks Continue with Sky One

19 Mar 2024 , 02:15 PM

One of the two bidders for the bankrupt Indian airline Go First has increased its offer after lenders’ encouragement, according to banking sources and a knowledgeable individual on Tuesday.

The bidding consortium, comprising SpiceJet’s managing director Ajay Singh and Busy Bee Airways, augmented the bid amount by 1 billion to 1.5 billion rupees, as per one source. The original bid stood at 16 billion rupees.

Pitti, CEO of EaseMyTrip, is associated with Busy Bee Airways. Go First, which filed for bankruptcy in May last year, received two financial bids, the second from Sharjah-based Sky One Airways, as reported by Reuters.

Both bids fell short of the expectations of the Committee of Creditors (CoC), leading to a request for upward revision from both bidders, as per a banker from a state-run bank with exposure to Go First.

Go First’s bankruptcy filing lists creditors including Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, and Deutsche Bank, to whom it owes a total of 65.21 billion rupees.

The CoC, via the resolution professional, is engaging in discussions with Sky One Airways, stated the banker. Sky One Airways did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The joint bid of Singh and Busy Bee will be deliberated upon in the forthcoming CoC meeting, likely to be held early next week, as stated by another banker.

Lenders are expected to respond to the bidders by March 28, as per the latter banker’s account.

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