Marans exit, SpiceJet to shift head office from Chennai to Delhi

New Delhi:  Kalanithi Maran, his wife Kavery and Managing Director S Natrajhen have resigned from SpiceJet since it is being acquired by Ajay Singh.

In a statement, the airline announced these three resignations from the board and also said the airline’s registered office is being shifted to Delhi from Chennai. The Marans have sold off their entire 58.46 percent stake to Singh.

It is interesting to see that in the statement, there is no mention of any other investors Singh might have roped in for acquiring this controlling stake in SpiceJet. There has been talk of Singh roping in US-based investors for the acquisition earlier.

Singh has confirmed he will pump in Rs 1500 crore in tranches into the airline and that he has already brought in Rs 100 crore in the first tranche last week - something airline insiders have disputed.

Singh’s arrival on the scene was a surprise to begin with, since he had cashed out of SpiceJet earlier. The recapitalisation plan of SpiceJet has already been cleared by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

In the SpiceJet statement, not only is there no mention of any consortium of investors, there is also no mention of whether the acquisition attracts an open offer from the acquirers for the minority shareholders of the airline. This issue is still pending with market regulator Sebi.

The statement also does not say for how much money is Singh acquiring this stake.

It does say that the airline’s authorised share capital will be increased to Rs 2,000 crore divided into 150 crore shares. It also gives details of some preference shares and other instruments.