Etihad offers to invest in Jet Airways at 49% discount
UAE carrier offers $35m if some conditions met, report says
Mumbai: Etihad Airways has offered to pick up shares of debt-laden Jet Airways Ltd at a 49 per cent discount and to immediately release $35 million (Dh128.55 million) to bail out the troubled carrier if certain conditions are met, CNBC-TV18 reported.
Shares of Jet Airways, in which Etihad already has a 24 per cent stake, fell as much as 7.5 per cent to Rs271.75 ($3.83; Dh14.10) in their biggest intraday drop since early December, after CNBC-TV18 reported that Etihad had offered to pay Rs150 for each share of the Indian airline.
The report cited as its source a letter from Etihad’s CEO Tony Douglas to the State Bank of India, Jet’s biggest lender, about a restructuring plan for the Indian carrier.
While Jet controls over a sixth of its home market, its margins, like that of other local players, have been eroded by high fuel taxes, a weak rupee and intense price competition, leaving it with about $1.14 billion in net debt as at the end of September and a pile of dues to pilots, lessors and vendors.