New Delhi, October 8: Tata Sons have emerged successful in winning the bid of India’s struggling national carrier Air India. The announcement was made by  Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). Pandey informed that Talace Pvt Ltd of Tata Sons is the winning bidder at Rs 18,000 crores. He added that the transaction is expected to close by the end of December 2021. The winning bid of Rs 18,000 cr comprises taking over of 15,300 cr debt and paying rest cash, DIPAM Secretary informed.

Pandey further informed that the government will get  Rs 2,700 cr cash from Tatas for the sale of its 100 percent stake. The official said that the winning bid by Tata Sons' of Rs 18,000 cr for Air India was higher than the reserve price of Rs 12,906 cr set by the government. Moreover, under the new deal, Tatas cannot transfer Air India brand, logo for five years and can transfer to only an Indian person after 5 years. Pandey further informed that the total debt on Air India as of August 31, 2021 is Rs 61,562 crores.

Earlier this week, there were reports that Tata Sons was selected as the winning bidder for the debt-laden airline. However, no such announcement was made by the Centre then. Tatas' bid was much-anticipated as its name of had been doing the rounds for some time now. Conglomerate Tata Sons, which was one of the bidders, was touted to be the frontrunner to get hold of the carrier. Earlier, Tata Sons backed SPV and industrialist Ajay Singh, in his personal capacity had sent in their financial bids.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her Budget speech for FY22 that all the proposed privatisation process would be completed by the end of the fiscal, including the much-delayed strategic disinvestment of Air India.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 08, 2021 04:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).