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The government is likely to extend the March 17 deadline for submitting bids to buy 100 per cent stake in Air India and the Home Minister led inter-ministerial panel will later this week decide on the new date.
Interested bidders can now have access to the “virtual data room” of Air India, officials said adding that more queries are expected to come in, which would be clarified by the Transaction Advisor and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The government has already extended the deadline for bidders to raise queries on the proposed strategic sale of Air India to March 6 from February 11.
Officials told PTI that the ministerial panel on Air India would meet later this week and decide on the new date for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI) by interested bidders.
The interested bidders can now get access to the virtual data room, which would also have the draft share purchase agreement (SPA), by paying a non-refundable fees of Rs 1 crore.
The ministerial panel – Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM)- is headed by Home Minister Amit Shah and comprises Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri as other members.
The government on January 27 issued the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) inviting EoI for sale of 100 per cent stake in Air India. On February 21, it issued the first set of clarification answering queries regarding the ‘confidentiality undertaking’.
