Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) has attracted the interest of six or seven potential investors for its loyalty programme Jet Privilege, the Economic Times has reported. All potential bidders want to hear more about the airline's planned restructuring first before committing to a deal.
"They are satisfied with Jet Privilege but want to know the future of its airline parent, its plans of survival and business transformation," a source said.
According to another unnamed source, all potential bidders are "global private equity firms". Among them are TPG Capital and Blackstone.
The carrier is trying to divest from its 49.9% share in its loyalty programme in order to raise cash to improve liquidity. The remaining 50.1% share is owned by Etihad Airways, which also holds a 24% stake in Jet Airways itself. Jet Privilege has some 8.5 million members and posted a net profit of INR1 billion rupees (USD13.6 million) in the Fiscal Year 2018.
Jet Airways is expecting final bids until the end of October 2018.
Separately, Live Mint has reported that Jet Airways was looking at selling and leasing back all sixteen aircraft it currently owns. The transaction could net some USD800 million for the cash-strapped carrier.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Jet Airways owns three A330-200s, two B737-800s, one B737-900, and ten B777-300(ER)s. It leases a further 101 aircraft.
Earlier this summer, the carrier was reported as having enough cash only to survive another two months. As of June 2018, Jet Airways had a gross debt of INR86.2 billion rupees (USD1.2 billion), while its accumulated losses stood at INR108.8 billion rupees (USD1.5 billion).
