The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday approved acquisition of a shareholding in Air India by Talace Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons.
The regulator also approved stake acquisition by Talace in Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services along with the acquisition of shares in Air India.
“The proposed combination envisages acquisition of 100% equity share capital of Air India Limited (Air India) and Air India Express Limited (AIXL), and 50% equity share capital of Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS) by Talace Private Limited (Talace),” CCI said in a statement.
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The government announced on October 8 Talace had won the bid to acquire the debt-laden airline. Tata outbid a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh by offering ₹18,000 crore.
On October 25, the government signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the divestment of Air India, which is wholly owned by the government. Earlier this month, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the transfer of Air India to Tata Sons will be completed in the next 1 to 1.5 months.
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Talace is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, an investment holding company that is registered as a core investment company with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and classified as a “Systemically Important Non-Deposit Taking Core Investment Company”.
The share purchase agreement shows ₹46,262 crore debt of the state-owned airline will be transferred to Air India Assets Holding Limited (AIAHL) and 15 per cent of the total debt of ₹61,562 crore will be retained by the Tata Group.
The government will get around ₹2,700 crore cash from Tatas and they will take over ₹15,300 crore debt.
