Kingfisher Airlines: Potential buyer offers Rs 300 crore for 24.9%
For reasons ranging from progress on Europe's debt crisis to a slowly improving housing market to slightly less gridlock in Congress, the economy and the job market appear better able to withstand setbacks than they were in 2011.
Pradeep Bhavnani, a Mumbai-based stock broker and businessman, has offered to pick up a 24.9 per cent stake in Kingfisher Airlines for Rs 300 crore.
Bhavnani told NDTV that he met with Kingfisher-promoter Vijay Mallya and made the offer.
However, the airline refuted any such meeting. “Vijay Mallya doesn’t know anybody by the name of Pradeep Bhavnani,” a Kingfisher spokesperson said.
In an interview with NDTV Profit, Bhavnani also said that he would purchase the airline’s Mumbai Headquarters for more than Rs 104 crore.
Pradeep Bhavnani is a Mumbai-based businessman and stock broker, who had earlier received media attention for buying Mahatma Gandhi’s Johannesburg house – The Kraal. He is also a relative of BJP leader - LK Advani.
Kingfisher shares rose 1.5 per cent.
Kingfisher, which suffered a loss of Rs. 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a debt of Rs. 7,057 crore, posted a Rs 444 crore loss in the December 2011 quarter. The government has said repeatedly that it would not bailout the troubled company. Kingfisher Airlines submitted a revised schedule of its flights on February 22 based on its current flying capacity. Only 28 of Kingfisher's 64 planes are currently in use.
The debt-ridden carrier has been battered from all its sides as International agency IATA recently suspended Kingfisher from its clearing house due to non-payment of dues. “Kingfisher's participation in the IATA Clearing House (ICH) will be reinstated after the airline fulfills the ICH requirements," a statement from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
Further, Income Tax authorities in Bangalore had issued show-cause notices to top officials of the airline seeking an explanation on non-payment of TDS, sources told NDTV Profit. The tax department had earlier frozen the airline’s bank accounts.
The airline owes an additional Rs 40 crore to the Central Board of Excise and Customs, which has threatened legal action if the airline does not pay on time. The CBEC has also frozen the airline’s bank accounts.
Moreover, to add to its troubles, Oil companies like Hindustan Petroleum stopped jet fuel supply to Kingfisher Airlines for non-payment of dues which led to a delay in Seven Kingfisher flights in Mumbai. However, Hindustan Petroleum resumed jet fuel supply to Kingfisher Airline after hectic negotiations.