Vedanta's Anil Agarwal eyes reviving Jet Airways

Agarwal submitted the express of interest through his family investment arm Volcan Investments before the close of the bid process on Saturday afternoon.

Billionaire businessman Anil Agarwal has submitted an expression of interest (EoI) to revive Jet Airways in what could mark his foray into aviation.

Agarwal submitted the EoI through his family investment arm Volcan Investments before the close of the bid process on Saturday afternoon. The other entities who submitted EoIs are Panama-based Avantulo Group and a Russian company.

Volcan Investments owns 100 per cent in Vedanta Resources, the group’s diversified metal and mining company. Volcan Investments said its interest in Jet was exploratory in nature.

“Volcan Investments, an investment company for Anil Agarwal, in an exploratory move, has sought an EoI for Jet Airways, to understand the business scenario for the company and the industry. This EoI is in no way linked to Vedanta,” the company said in a statement.

According to industry sources, Vedanta Group does not have aviation interests in India and it sold its private jet Cessna Citation and Eurocopter EC135 several years ago.

The deadline for submitting EoIs was August 10, after an extension was granted last Saturday as potential bidders had sought additional time for due diligence.

Etihad Airways, which was expected to bid for Jet Airways, eventually backed out, a source said. “This process is being managed by the resolution professionals and at this time, out of respect for the process, Etihad Airways has no comment to make,” the airline, which had partnered Jet, said.

In a statement to the exchanges, the resolution professional said the provisional list of prospective resolution applicants would be issued on August 13. The estimated date of submitting a resolution plan before the National Company Law Tribunal is September 27.