Sale of Pawan Hans put on hold by Centre over winning bidder concerns
India Today
Centre has put the sale of helicopter service provider Pawan Hans on hold over concerns about the winning bidder.
The Centre has decided to put on hold the sale of public sector helicopter service provider, Pawan Hans Limited to Star9 Mobility Private Limited. The decision comes after concerns were raised over one of the majority stakeholders of Star9 Mobility.
Questions were raised over the majority stakeholder Almas Global Opportunity Fund and the background of the winning bidder.
On April 29, an empowered cabinet group had given the green signal for Star9 Mobility to buy the government’s 51 per cent stake in the loss-making Pawan Hans.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), that held the rest of the 49 per cent had also offered its entire shareholding to the winning bidder at the same price per share, as per the terms agreed by the government.
Star9 Mobility Private Ltd is made up of three different entities Maharaja Aviation Private Limited (25% stake), Private Limited (26%) and Almas Global Opportunity Fund (49%). Very little is known about the winning bidder.
What is known though is that on April 22, the Kolkata-bench of the National Company Law Tribunal sanctioned Cayman Islands-based Almas Global, in a case involving a Kolkata-based company called EMC Limited, which Almas had successfully bid to acquire for Rs 568 crore after EMC entered an insolvency resolution plan, but then failed to pay up.
NCLT, in its order, had strongly reprimanded Almas for its failure, and called for action against the company under Section 74(3) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. It had also asked for a copy of its order to be sent to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India and the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
