Jet Airways on Friday paid Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) to the promoters of Air Sahara, closing the deal for the Naresh Goyal-promoted private airline's takeover of the Lucknow-based ailing carrier.
Jet has paid Rs 400 crore, which it was required to pay by April 20 to the promoters of Air Sahara. This marks the closure of the deal, company sources said.
The April 20 deadline was set by an arbitration panel. Already, Jet officials have started entering the offices of Air Sahara as part of the amalgamation process, the sources added.
After nine months of bitter legal battle, the grounded Jet-Sahara deal had finally took off earlier this month as Jet agreed to buy the Lucknow-based airline at a 'lump sum price' of Rs 1,450 crore (Rs 14.50 billion).
Goyal had described the deal as a 'win-win' for both parties. The deal, he had said, was "40 per cent cheaper than the one (Rs 2,300 crore deal) signed last year." The three-member arbitration panel had approved the revised offer.
Under the renewed offer approved by arbitrators, all shares of Air Sahara will be transferred to Jet for Rs 1,450 crore, inclusive of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) which Jet paid last year.
Jet was asked to pay Rs 400 crore on or before April 20 and another Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 million) in four interest-free annual equal instalments starting March 2008.
However, confusion prevailed over the actual deal size, with Air Sahara president Alok Sharma maintaining that the enterprise value was "close to Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion)."
"The deal is closed at an enterprise value of close to Rs 2,000 crore and some adjustments of about Rs 500-odd crore were made," he said.