Be it a domestic or international travel, IndiGo has for decades been a travel companion of the world. IndiGo was founded by two Indian Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal as a private company in 2006 until Rakesh decided to exit from the company.The Gangwal family headed by Rakesh has recently decided to sell IndiGo’s stake worth $450 million by block deal keeping Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs as deal bankers as per ET reports.
Who is Rakesh Gangwal
Rakesh was born in Kolkata and completed his schooling from Don Bosco, Park Circus. He then pursued mechanical engineering from IIT, Kanpur in 1975 and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rakesh is an Indian business magnate and has served as the chairman and former CEO of the US Airways Group. Throughout his career he has held significant positions of responsibility, as chairman, president, and CEO of Worldspan Technologies from June 2003 to August 2007. Gangwal engaged in a number of independent business ventures during 2002 and 2003, including consulting and private equity companies.
As a Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc. associate who worked closely with United Airlines in September 1980, he was initially associated with the airline business. As manager of strategic planning, he joined United Airlines in 1984. At United Airlines, he held various jobs. Gangwal’s prior employment history includes positions as a production and planning engineer with Philips India Ltd. and a financial analyst in Ford Motor Co.’s product development division as per Forbes.
After falling into a feud with his friend and co-founder, Rahul, he resigned from the company’s board in February 2022 and had decide to sell his stocks over the coming years.
According to Moneycontrol, Thetfamily sold a 2.8% share for Rs 2,000 crore in September 2022 and a 4% stake for Rs 2,900 crore in February 2023. The family still has a 29.72 % share in the company. Gangwal announced the family would gradually reduce its interest when he left the board.
As per The Economic Times report, the Gangwals to put 15.6 million shares on the block with a floor price of Rs 2,400 per share, which accounts to a 5.8% discount to the closing price of Monday. According to BSE records, the Gangwal family owned 29.72% of IndiGo Airlines, while promoters owned a total of 67.76% of the company by the end of June 2023.
Rakesh Gangwal is $4.7 billion as of 2023, according to Forbes. They own a $30 million worth mansion in Miami, Florida that was previously belonged to billionaire Charles Johnson.
Gangwal resides in Miami, Florida, is married, and has one daughter. In California, their daughter Parul worked for the enterprise software provider Salesforce. In June 2021, she established Wheelhouse Capital as her own startup.
