Bird Group keen to bid for Air India’s ground services unit

Bloomberg

Bird Group, an aviation and hospitality company, said it is interested in bidding for the ground handling division of Air India Ltd., the state-owned flag carrier the government is planning to sell in full or part.
The New Delhi-based group has written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation asking the government to consider selling Air India’s subsidiaries separately, a spokesman said.
Air India Air Transport Services Ltd. would make an attractive acquisition because it could be close to triple the size of Bird Group in the ground handling business, said the spokesman. It is premature to speculate on a valuation of the company known as AIATSL because its finances and liabilities are not known and due diligence has yet to be done, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a plan in June to privatise Air India, and a group of ministers is currently deciding on the sale process. The government is still deliberating on the stake to be sold and the fate of the 85-year old national carrier’s $8 billion debt.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline,
has said it would be keen to buy
Air India’s overseas operations,
and it will consider buying the
entire company.
A decision on Air India will
be taken after completing due process, but it needs to be done “expeditiously,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who heads the group of ministers, told reporters
on Wednesday.