Religare Voyages to acquire stake in Spicejet
Religare Voyages, an air charter and travel company may acquire stake in low cost airline SpiceJet by participating in an open offer with the price of Rs 70-75 per share.
The airline was in talks with the promoter of the Sun TV Network, Kalanithi Maran for a possible sale but it did not advance due to valuation differences. Maran was ready to offer only between Rs 60-63 per share for the airline.
The airline calculates its market capitalization to be about Rs 1,400 crore. According to some sources Maran wants to acquire the majority stake below the running price because he thinks that current market price is too high and are not in accordance with the fundamentals of the company.
Religare promoted by the Malvinder Singh might opt for an open offer after it succeeds in acquiring the stake of the airline promoters. The promoter of SpiceJet is Kenya-based Kansagra family with a stake of 13% stake while the director of the company, Ajay Singh holds 5%. The remaining shares are held by the public and other institutions.
SpiceJet has a fleet of 20 aircrafts and enjoys a market share of about 12%. The airline recently received the permission to start international operations. Recently, the Dubai based investment fund, Istithmar sold its 13% stake in SpiceJet for about Rs 160 crore.
