The Hindu Business Line : Jet Airways plans IPO

JET Airways plans to go public shortly with an initial public offering (IPO). The finer details of the IPO are expected to be finalised in the next two to three weeks, the airline Chairman, Mr Naresh Goyal, said here on Wednesday.

"We should hopefully come out with an IPO in this fiscal itself. We have a consortium of banks examining various issues such as how much should be diluted or divested. All this should be decided in the next couple of weeks. In fact, who is to be the lead banker has also not yet been decided," Mr Goyal told newspersons in an informal chat.

Mr Goyal, however, noted that it would be wrong to say that Jet's decision to go in for an IPO was based on the recent Government decision to hike the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the aviation sector to 49 per cent from 40 per cent earlier.

"We have been studying the IPO market for many years. It's not a sudden decision. We have been looking at it for a long time," he said.

The proceeds from the IPO are to be used to further improve the airline's balance sheet, the debt- equity ratio, as also fund the future plans, Mr Goyal said. When asked whether the airline was in the black, Mr Goyal said that Jet was making money, both in terms of net and operating profits.

Meanwhile, Jet also plans to induct some more Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a phased manner to increase its domestic services. Mr Goyal said that while one aircraft was expected to arrive this week, a few more were expected next year. Jet Airways, Mr Goyal said, would decide on its fleet expansion plans after considering a number of issues such as the international sectors that were being opened up and what rights are given to the airline.