Pawan Hans: Winning bidder unfit, govt calls off privatisation of Pawan Hans – Times of India
In April last year, a government panel had approved the privatisation of Pawan Hans, accepting the highest bid of Rs 211.1 crore from a consortium led by Star9 Mobility, which had promised to turn the loss-making entity into an on-demand helicopter taxi service on the lines of Uber.
The Pawan Hans privatisation was the second most high profile case in the aviation sector after the sale of Air India to Tatas. Several attempts in the past to sell the loss-making company were stalled stalled due to lack of interest.
Govt calls off privatisation of Pawan Hans
The government has scrapped the privatisation of state-run helicopter services provider Pawan Hans and disqualified the winning consortium led by Star9 Mobility due to several legal cases.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) said in a note that after careful consideration of the response of the successful bidder to the show-cause notice, the government has decided that successful bidding consortium Star9 Mobility is disqualified from the process of strategic disinvestment of Pawan Hans and the current expression of interest process for strategic disinvestment stands annulled.
The decision has been approved by the alternative mechanism or group of ministers, comprising ministers of road transport & highways, finance and civil aviation. The Pawan Hans privatisation was the second most high profile case in the aviation sector after the sale of Air India to the Tatas.
In April last year, a government panel had approved the privatisation of Pawan Hans, accepting the highest bid of Rs 211.1 crore from a consortium led by Star9 Mobility, which had promised to turn the loss-making entity into an on-demand helicopter taxi service on the lines of Uber.
Soon after the decision it emerged that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Kolkata bench, had issued an adverse order against AGOF (Almas Global Opportunity Fund), a member of the successful consortium, in another case relating to a resolution plan under the Indian Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Considering the adverse order of NCLT, the letter of intent was not issued to the winning bidder, according to the Dipam note.
Pawan Hans has been incurring losses for several years and the company has a fleet of 42 helicopters, with 41 of them owned by the company.
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