State Bank of India, the biggest lender to Jet Airways (India) Ltd, has begun talks with private equity firm TPG Capital to buy a stake in the debt-laden airline, a media report said.
Citing two people in the know, The Economic Times reported also that Jet founder Naresh Goyal has separately reached out to US-based carrier Delta Air Lines to explore the possibility of buying a stake in the Indian airline.
The report also said that TPG might take only a minority stake in Jet and that only an airline might be interested in buying a large stake.
The reported development comes after SBI-led lenders took control of Jet on Monday with a 50.1% stake and Goyal resigned as chairman. The lenders hope to find a new buyer for Jet by June-end.
In another report, The Economic Times said Japanese energy company Fuji Electric is close to acquiring Consul Neowatt Power Solutions, a Chennai-based power backup manufacturer, from private equity fund Peepul Capital.
The deal could be worth $100 million (Rs 700 crore), the report said, citing two people close to the development.
The report also said that others companies interested in buying Consul Neowatt included Schneider Electric and Hitachi.
Peepul Capital had acquired a majority stake in Consul Consolidated Pvt. Ltd in 2012 with an investment of $25 million. In 2014, Consul was merged with Pune-based Neowatt Energy.
Meanwhile, telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd wants an equal stake in a proposed joint venture with peer Bharti Airtel Ltd to combine their optic fibre assets, The Economic Times said, citing people aware of the matter.
The two companies have a broad agreement to form a proposed Rs 35,000-40,000 crore joint venture, the report said. Vodafone Idea has a network of 156,000 route km of optic fibre and Airtel has 246,000 route km. Together, this will be bigger than billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm’s network of 300,000 route km.
While Airtel’s network is larger, Vodafone Idea’s deployment exceeds that of its rival in metros including New Delhi and Mumbai, which derive a higher valuation, the report said. The deal is likely to close in the quarter ending June 30.
