The proposed $400 million rights issue of Naresh Goyal-promoted private airline Jet Airways will hit the capital market by mid-October.
Jet Airways, which recently acquired Air Sahara (now JetLite) for Rs 1,450 crore (Rs 14.5 billion), is currently in the process of filing a prospectus with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.
"We will be filing a prospectus with the Sebi by mid-August. The Sebi normally takes six weeks to clear a rights issue. In that case, we can make the rights issue offer by mid-October," Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj K Datta told Business Standard.
Jet Airways has appointed HSBC and SSKI as merchant bankers to the rights issue, which will be used for acquisition of aircraft.
"This money will be used for making a pre-delivery payment for $2.5 billion aircraft acquisition plan. According to the PDP commitment, Jet will have to pay 15 per cent of the total $2.5 billion to aircraft manufacturers," said Jet executives.
Jet Airways is acquiring 25 wide-bodied aircraft to fuel its international operations. Sources said Naresh Goyal, the chairman and promoter of Jet Airways, had also started negotiations with leading financial institutions for arranging over Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) in the backdrop of the rights issue.
Goyal holds 80 per cent share in Jet Airways, while the remaining stake is with the public. Meanwhile, Jet Airways today launched its flight connecting India and the US, with daily flights from Mumbai to Newark via its hub in Brussels.
With this, Jet Airways becomes the first private sector carrier in the country to fly this route. National carrier Air-India launched its non-stop Mumbai-New York flights on August 1.
Jet has deployed brand-new Boeing B777-300 ER aircraft, which will carry 312 passengers in a three-class configuration. For the operations of Boeing B777-300 ER aircraft, Jet has signed up with Lufthansa Technik for maintenance support and assignment of qualified engineers.
The private carrier has also firmed up plans to start Delhi-Toronto flights via Brussels starting from September 5. The airline plans to extend its international operations to North America, Europe, Africa and Asia with the introduction of wide-body aircraft into its fleet.
Since inception, in May 1993, until the end of June 2007, Jet has flown over 74 million passengers.
Jet currently operates a fleet of 64 aircraft, with four Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 48 Boeing 737, four Airbus A330 and eight ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft.Powered by 
Jet Airways takes off for a new destination. Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal is a happy man.
Photographs: Sebastian D'Souza/AFP/Getty Images
