Bidding for Air India to be done on enterprise value: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri
New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said bidding for Air India would be done on the basis of its enterprise value instead of equity value.
The enterprise value of a company includes the equity value, debt as well as cash with the company. Equity value measures the value of a company's shares.
"We have decided to ask for bids for Air India on enterprise value," Puri said at a press conference.
Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said at the conference, "The bid will be on the enterprise value... In this enterprise value also, a ratio has been earmarked between how much he (bidder) can take as debt and how much he has to give as cash."
It has been decided that whatever enterprise value the bidder quotes, 15 percent of that has to be given in cash to the government, and the remaining 85 percent has to be taken as debt along with Air India, Kharola explained.
The debt of Air India as of March 31, 2019, was Rs 58,255 crore. Later in 2019, Rs 29,464 crore of this debt was transferred from Air India to a government-owned special purpose vehicle called Air India Assets Holding Company Limited (AIAHL).
After its unsuccessful attempt to sell Air India in 2018, the government in January this year restarted the divestment process and invited bids for selling 100 percent of its equity in the state-owned airline, including Air India's 100 percent shareholding in Air India Express Ltd and 50 percent in Air India SATS Airport Services Private Ltd.
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Look-out circular issued against Union Minister Bandi Sanjay's son in POCSO case
Hyderabad (PTI): The Cyberabad police have issued a look-out circular against Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar's son Bandi Bageerath, who has been booked under the POCSO Act, to prevent him from fleeing the country.
A police official told PTI on Saturday that searches are being conducted to nab Bageerath.
Meanwhile, Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) president K Kavitha, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanded the removal of Sanjay Kumar, MoS (Home), from the Union Cabinet "to ensure a free and fair investigation in the POCSO case involving his son".
In a setback to Bageerath, the Telangana High Court on Friday night did not grant him any interim protection from arrest.
Dealing with an interim anticipatory bail petition of Bageerath, the court said it was not inclined to grant any interim order at this stage.
The counsel for Bageerath had requested interim protection from arrest until the orders on the petition were issued.
The case was registered under relevant Sections of the BNS and POCSO Act on May 8 against Bageerath based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl, who alleged that Bageerath was in a relationship with her daughter and sexually harassed her.
After recording the statement of the victim, more stringent sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were invoked in the case.
Bageerath had also lodged a counter-complaint, alleging that the girl, who got acquainted with him, had invited him to family functions and group gatherings. An FIR was registered based on Bageerath’s complaint.
In the complaint, Bageerath stated that, believing the girl’s family to be trustworthy, he accompanied them on visits to certain holy places as part of a group of friends.
He further alleged that the girl and her parents later pressured him to marry her. When he rejected the proposal, the girl's parents allegedly demanded money and threatened to file false complaints against him if he failed to pay.
Bageerath claimed that, out of fear, he paid Rs 50,000 to the girl's father, but the family later demanded Rs 5 crore. He also alleged that they threatened that the girl's mother would commit suicide if he failed to meet their demands.
