The Centre on Friday said that Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd has emerged as the highest bidder for the government’s 51 per cent stake in Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL) with a bid of ₹211.14 crore. The government had set a reserve price of ₹199.2 crore based on the valuation of the experts.

PHL, a joint venture of the Government of India and ONGC, provides helicopter and aero-mobility services. Star9 Mobility Private Ltd is a consortium of Big Charter Pvt Ltd, Maharaja Aviation Pvt Ltd and Almas Global Opportunity Fund.

Bid approved

“The Alternative Mechanism, empowered by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, comprising Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways; Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs; and Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has approved Star9 Mobility’s bid and transfer of management control,” an official statement said.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, DIPAM Secretary tweeted, “Government has approved the highest bid of M/s Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd for sale of GoI stake of 51 per cent in Pawan Hans Limited. The transaction now moves to the concluding stage.” The government will next issue the Letter of Award, sign the Share Purchase Agreement and close the transaction.

 “ONGC has earlier decided to offer its entire shareholding (49 per cent) to the successful bidder identified in the GoI strategic disinvestment transaction, on the same price and terms as GoI,” the statement added.

Consultative process

The strategic disinvestment transaction was implemented through an open and competitive bidding process supported by a multi-layered consultative decision making mechanism involving Inter Ministerial Group, Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment and the empowered Alternative Mechanism.

Seven Expressions of Interest were received and four bidders were shortlisted as qualified bidders. After detailed due diligence, the qualified bidders were invited to submit financial bids. Three financial bids were received.  The other two bids were for ₹181.05 crore and 153.15 crore.

42-strong fleet

CCEA had approved the strategic disinvestment of the entire stake of government in PHL in October, 2016. The transaction had been attempted thrice in the past.

PHL has been incurring losses in the last three fiscal years of FY-19, FY-20 and FY-21. The company has a fleet of 42 helicopters with 41 of them owned by the company. “With this privatisation, it is expected that the strategic buyer will revitalise the company by replacing the aging fleet through infusion of fresh capital and improve the performance of the company,” the official statement added.

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