Air France, Delta make a joint bid for Air India stake
Air France, Delta make a joint bid for Air India stake
NEW DELHI (Reuters): Air France and Delta Airlines joined a list of big name suitors for state-run Air India on Friday, as they put in a joint bid for a stake in the Indian flag carrier.
Singapore Airlines, along with India's largest private sector conglomerate, the Tata group, and Dubai's Emirates have already bid for a stake in the loss-making airline which is being privatized by the Indian government.
"Air France and Delta Airlines have submitted a joint expression of interest. At this stage, there was no need to specify how much stake they will pick up," a source involved in the bid told Reuters on Friday.
Air France and Delta Airlines, who are part of the SkyTeam alliance, have plans to tie up with an Indian partner at a later stage, the source added.
Bids for a 40 percent stake in Air India close on Friday.
Foreign airlines can bid for a 26 percent stake alone or for a 40 percent holding if they team up with an Indian company.
British Airways, which had been expected to announce a bid, said later on Friday that it and Australian carrier Qantas were acting as technical advisers to a bid consortium of Indian financial institutions.
Hinduja Group, a UK business owned and run by four billionaire Indian-born brothers, said on Friday it was also entering the bid.
The Hinduja group said it has submitted the bids to the Indian government to acquire the 40 percent stake in Air India and 26 percent in India's domestic airline Indian Airlines.
The Tata group also bid for a 26 percent stake in Indian Airlines on Friday, a source told Reuters.
Only Indian companies, non-resident Indians and foreign companies with majority ownership by expatriate Indians can bid for Indian Airlines, which also close on Friday.
India's Reliance Group which has interests in textiles, petrochemicals and refining, said it was not in the race for either of the two airlines. The group had been widely expected to tender a bid for Indian Airlines.
The Indian government's partial sale of Air India is its highest profile initiative to date in a privatization process which has been slow to get off the ground.
On Thursday, the Tata Group said it would lead a consortium with Singapore Airlines in a bid to acquire a 40 percent stake in Air India.
Dubai's Emirates airline has bid for a 26 percent stake, an industry source told Reuters on Thursday.
The source said Emirates had submitted a bid for a 26 percent stake in Air India over two weeks ago. The airline had not entered into a joint venture with an Indian company, but was likely to do so later, he added.
Emirates officials were not available for comment, but Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said in September that he saw a strategic fit in Air India.
The pilots union of Air India also bid for a 40 percent stake in Air India on Thursday.
Air India has racked up losses of more than 10 billion rupees in the last five years and cut its network by 40 percent in line with its reduced 23-aircraft fleet.
But analysts say the airline is still attractive because it holds lucrative bilateral air traffic rights to Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.