Goyal was the last to submit his EoI, just before the deadline was about to end on Friday. Can the other bidders legally block his EoI? Is there any law which prohibits Naresh from bidding, if yes then on what grounds?
Can an Ex-Founder bid again?
Jet Airways Founder, Naresh, if capable of infusing capital has all the rights to bid for the cash strapped airline which he had recently given up. There is no law in the country which say he cannot do it. Also, as per the law a defaulting Promoter can only be stopped from joining the bidding process only if the default is more than 12 months, but in case of the Jet Naresh and Jet has defaulted only for the past three months. Such a bid from the promoter is called a restructuring bid and not Strategic bid and not a financial bid. So legally Naresh’s bid for Jet is valid as per law. Neither has Naresh nor the lenders have approached the IBC, so it’s the lenders decision to accept the bid or not.
Can Naresh bid be stopped?
There are multiple ways this can go and the details and few of them are listed below.
- Naresh’s bid can be rejected on the grounds of ineligibility to contest in such a bid due to technical or financial ground.
- Naresh can back out of the bidding process if other major lenders decide to back out.
- Naresh, since is already a majority stake holder in Jet can be bought out of all this equity in his company.
- No other financial supporter will lead to financial disqualification.
- His earlier plans to remove 22% promoter stake should be kept in place.
Way Forward for Jet and Naresh !!!
Naresh can cash in all his equity he holds In Jet and maybe invest in other business or looks for other opportunities and let Jet airways alone for the tie being. Maybe one day an investor with big pockets would buy the Jet Airways and if everything goes fine it will fly again in glory as before. For Jet Airways it like being adopted to a new family, initial days maybe tough but not run the same way as our Maharaja is run it may pass this crucial phase.
Business Management 