In what could turn out to be another ray of hope for the lenders to Jet Airways, the South American bidder Synergy Group, has resubmitted a bid for the airline. The announcement on this was made by the legal advisor to the group, Guizzetti and Associates. The legal firm is headquartered in Washington while the Synergy Group operates out of Brazil and is headed by German Efromovich.
The details of the bids are yet to emerge. The observers would want to know if there is a local partner added in the bid since it is critical for the takeover of the airline in compliance with the FDI norms. If there is no local partner, there will have to be a separate consideration for permitting an entity with interest in an airline to own more than 49% in Jet Airways. The Synergy Group operates one of the largest airlines in the South American continent.
One will have to wait for the resolution professional Ashish Chhawchharia to make an announcement on the bid and also if there are more bids received for the company. The Committee of Creditors (CoC) has appointed the resolution professional and he will first place the bid before the CoC and with their concurrence only make the details public.
The lenders themselves will be keen to know how much of the amounts owed to them by Jet Airways, the bidder is willing to settle for obtaining the rights to own the airline and turn it around. If the financial creditors themselves are forced to take a large haircut, the plight of the operational creditors might be even worse.
There is a possibility, if the new owner of the airline revives it and resumes operations, the very same vendors may come into play. In the case of Jet Airways for instance, the Airports Authority of India or some of the private operators managing the airports, the fuel suppliers like Indian Oil and other such service providers may set their terms to recover their dues, if any, from the Synergy Group.
All these details will be known only when the bid submitted by the Synergy Group is scrutinised and the lenders react to it.