Naresh Goyal, wife step down the Jet board
Jet Airways announced that founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal and one nominee of Etihad Airways PJSC have stepped down from the board.
“Resignation by Naresh Goyal, Anita Goyal, and Kevin Knight, as directors of the company, and induction of two nominee directors of lenders. Naresh Goyal will also cease to be the chairman of the Company,” the Jet statement said.
The airline will also receive immediate funding of up to Rs 1,500 crore by lenders.
“Immediate funding support of up to Rs 1,500 crore by lenders by way of issue of appropriate debt instrument against the security of its assets which will restore normalcy to Company’s level of operations,” it said.
The airline’s CEO Vinay Dube will continue in Goyal’s position for now.
According to reports, Etihad’s stakes in the company will be halved from 24 per cent to 12 per cent while Goyal’s stake will be reduced to 25.5 per cent from the existing 51 per cent.
The decision paves the way for lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), to invoke some of Goyal’s shareholding and rescue the airline on an immediate basis. One of the conditions for the lenders has been for the Goyals to step down from the Jet board, now that’s done the airline may well look toward recovery.
It is likely that the lenders will take over more than 50 per cent of the airline’s stake and convert its debt into shares.
Soon after Goyal stepped down from the airline’s board, Jet’s stocks jumped to biggest gain since January 14 this year.