|
Tata, SIA to jointly bid for 40% of Air-India
REUTERS
New Delhi, Feb 20 : The Tata group and Singapore Airlines will table on Friday a joint bid for 40 per cent of Air India, a Tata official told Reuters on Tuesday. "Tata-SIA are serious contenders for Air India. We will submit a technical bid on February 23," the official said. New Delhi has set a February 23 deadline for the submission of technical bids and details of consortiums seeking to buy a 40 percent stake in Air India being sold by the government. Foreign airlines can pick-up 26 per cent of the stake individually or the entire 40 per cent in tandem with an Indian partner. The Tatas and Singapore Airlines are the only bidding group whose composition is fixed so far. Other bidders are racing to finalise their partners ahead of the Friday deadline.Other bidders who submitted expressions of interest in November include Delta Airlines and partner Air France, Dubai's Emirates airline, London-based steel magnate LN Mittal and the UK-based billionaire Hinduja brothers. The Tata Grou p, one of India's leading business conglomerates with interests in a wide range of industries, pioneered civil aviation in India by starting Tata Airlines in the 1930s. That airline was later renamed Air India before it was nationalised in 1953. Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
|
