The government had in December last year received three bids for the Pawan Hans sale. Star9 Mobility had quoted Rs 211.14 crore for Pawan Hans, which was above the Reserve Price of Rs 199.92 crore fixed by the government.
The government of India is likely to put on hold the sale of state-owned helicopter service provider Pawan Hans indefinitely as it is legally examining an NCLT order against Almas Global, which is the biggest shareholder in the winning consortium, an official said on Monday.
Last month, the government selected M/s Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd, a consortium of M/s Big Charter Private Ltd, M/s Maharaja Aviation Private Ltd, and M/s Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC, as the winning bidder for Pawan Hans. While Big Charter and Maharaja Aviation own 26 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), M/s Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC holds 49 percent.
Note: Pawan Hans Limited is a government-owned helicopter service provider based at Noida in Delhi NCR, India. It is under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.
The official said the letter of award to the winning consortium has not been issued as legal views are being taken. “We will do a legal examination of the NCLT order before proceeding further. Letter of Award has not been issued,” the official said.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had last month passed an order reportedly after Almas Global failed to make payments to creditors of a Kolkata-based company under an approved resolution plan.
This is the second instance where a disinvestment exercise has been put on hold after completion of the process due to allegations against the reputation of the winning bidder. The government had earlier paused the privatization of Central Electronics Ltd (CEL) as allegations were raised that the winning bidder Nandlal Finance and the other shortlisted bidder JPM Industries were related companies.
The government had in November last year approved the highest price bid of Rs 210 crore by Delhi-based Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt Ltd for the sale of 100 percent equity shareholding of the government in CEL – a CPSE under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
Pawan Hans is a 51:49 joint venture of the government and ONGC. The government had in December last year received three bids for the Pawan Hans sale. Star9 Mobility had quoted Rs 211.14 crore for Pawan Hans, which was above the Reserve Price of Rs 199.92 crore fixed by the government based on valuation carried out by the transaction adviser and asset valuer. The other two bids were for Rs 181.05 crore and Rs 153.15 crore.
