Government Inks Share Purchase Pact With Tata Sons For Air India Sale

Days after Tata Sons emerged as the successful bidder to take over national carrier Air India, the government on Monday inked a share purchase pact with it to sell the debt-laden company for Rs 18,000 crore.

Earlier the government had accepted an offer by Talace Private Limited, a unit of the holding company of the conglomerate, to pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.

Subsequent to this, on October 11 a Letter of Intenet (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group, thus officially initiating the process of selling government's 100 per cent stake in Air India.

"Share Purchase Agreement signed today by Government with Tata Sons for strategic disinvestment of Air India,” Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.

Air India's Director Finance Vinod Hejmadi, Civil Aviation Ministry Joint Secretary Satyendra Mishra and Supraprakash Mukhopadhyay from the Tata Group signed the share purchase agreement (SPA).

The next step involves seeking regulatory clearances, including those from the Competition Commission of India by Tata Sons before the actual handover of the airline happens by December-end.