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Govt to divest A-I, IA if bid exceeds floor price

Divestment Minister Arun Shourie in a written reply told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that the government will go ahead with divestment in Air-India and Indian Airlines even if there's only one bidder, provided he (the bidder) is ready to offer more money than what the government has set as the floor price for selloff.

The minister further said that in consultation with various organisations, the government has put in place a transparent procedure including standarisation of valuation methodology to obviate any controversy.

Stating that the divestment in the two state-run airlines are at an advanced stage, he said the strategic partner would need to meet the security requirement of the country as determined by the government.

The strategic partner, be it company(ies), joint venture(s) or consortium(s), should have a combined networth in excess of Rs 10 billion or $225 million.

He said the bidder could also get disqualified if the government is not satisfied with the source of funds or ownership structure of the bidder.

In the case of Indian Airlines, an additional condition was that the air transport carriers in India were not permitted to participate in the sale, he said.

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