Jet Airways plunges on report bidders not keen to follow up

BENGALURU :Shares of Jet Airways Ltd tumbled over 20 percent to a decade low on Thursday after a media report said bidders for the struggling airline had not yet shown interest in following up on their offers.

Three of the four qualified bidders - Etihad Airways, TPG Capital and Indigo Partners - have not signed non-disclosure agreements necessary for conducting due diligence, with just days left now to submit their final bids, the Economic Times newspaper reported, citing sources.

The bidders have until May 10 to submit their offers, but stakeholders are not hopeful, the paper said.

"We are staring at an obituary," the daily quoted an executive at one of Jet's key lenders as saying.

Jet, once India's largest private airline, was forced to stop all flight operations on April 17 after its banks rejected the carrier's plea for emergency funds.

Jet management has also been trying to tap India's biggest business houses for investment, the paper said.

They have met executives at Mahindra, Adani, Tata group and Reliance Industries in the last two weeks, but none of the conglomerates have responded positively, it said.

Jet Airways, Etihad Airways, TPG Capital, Adani, Tata and Reliance did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Indigo Partners and Mahindra group were not immediately reachable for comment.

Jet's stock was trading at 123 rupees at 0357 GMT, their lowest since March 2009.