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.