Govt and Tata Sons sign share purchase agreement worth Rs 18k cr

On Monday, the government signed a share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for Rs 18,000 crore for the sale of Air India. Earlier, the government had accepted the offer by Talace Private Limited to pay Rs 2,700 crore in cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt. On 11 October, the government issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Tata Group, confirming the government's willingness to sell its 100% stake in the airlines. The Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Tuhin Kanta Pandey, tweeted that the sale-purchase agreement was signed between the government and Tata Sons for strategic disinvestment of Air India. The deal included the sale of Air India Express and the ground handling arm of Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS). Tata Group has surpassed the offer of Rs 15,100 crore by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh, and the reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore set the government of India for the sale of a 100% stake in the carrier. It will be the first airport privatisation since 2003-04. Air India will be the third airline under Tata, which has an interest in AirAsia India and Vistara, a joint venture (JV) with Singapore Airlines Limited. Image SourceAlso read: Air India returns to Tata Sons