Ailing Jet Air seeks approval to swap debt for its shares

Bloomberg

Jet Airways India Ltd is seeking the approval of shareholders to convert loans into equity as the ailing carrier saddled with $1.1 billion of debt negotiates a rescue deal with its lenders and partner.
India’s biggest full-service carrier has called an extraordinary general meeting on February 21 in Mumbai, during which it will also seek consent for lenders to appoint company directors and boost its capital, according to a filing. The airline didn’t say whether the three sides have reached an agreement over the terms of the rescue.
Jet Airways and lenders have been in talks for weeks to work out a revival plan, although no commonly agreed proposal was presented to the government, a ministry official said in New Delhi.
The Mumbai-based carrier has struggled with low fares in an increasingly competitive market, losing money in all but two of the past 11 years.
Lenders led by State Bank of India, the country’s biggest lender by assets, have sought 35 billion rupees ($492 million) of investment from founder Naresh Goyal and Etihad before they can revamp its debt, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month. Jet Airways said Jan. 16 it was considering “various options on the debt-equity mix.”
Shares of the airline fell 2.5 percent to 246.80 rupees in Mumbai. They have dropped 67 percent in the past 12 months.