Jet hopeful of USD 150 mn Etihad soft loan, stake sale by December

Mumbai: Jet Airways today said it expects to raise USD 150 million through Etihad bankers by December.

Yesterday, the Naresh Goyal-promoted airline reported its worst quarterly numbers with a record loss of Rs 891 crore on a standalone basis in the quarter to September 30.

[caption id=“attachment_1192589” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The stake sale should happen by December. Reuters. [/caption]

“We are working with their (Etihad) bankers… that is expected to happen this quarter,” Jet Airways Group chief financial officer Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan said during an analysts call.

“Etihad through their bankers will help us get ECB to the extent of USD 150 million,” he said, adding “we are on course to complete the transaction during the current quarter.”

Gopalakrishnan said this soft loan is excluding the USD 600-million to come from the stake sale to the UAE carrier Etihad Airways, for which the Jet has received all clearances, except the nod from the competition watchdog CCI.

As a part of the 24 per cent stake sale, Etihad has committed USD 380 million through equity infusion, USD 70 million by way of leasing Jet Airways three slots at London’s Heathrow Airport and another USD 150 million investment in JetPrivilege, apart from the USD 150 million foreign currency soft loan.

However, the deal is reportedly also stuck in litigation with BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filing a petition in the apex court, seeking a CBI probe, alleging corruption in certain approvals. Gopalakrishnan said the airlines are on course to complete the transaction during this quarter itself.

The airline yesterday reported a nine-fold jump in net losses at Rs 891 crore in the September quarter and cited fall in rupee and poor market conditions coupled with grounding of some of its aircraft as the reasons for poor finances.

On a consolidated basis, the Jet Group’s net loss stood even higher at Rs 998.5 crore in the reporting quarter.

PTI