The Alternative Mechanism, empowered by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, comprising Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs and Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has approved the highest bid of M/s Star9 Mobility Private Ltd for sale of entire GoI’s shareholding (51% of shareholding) of Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) and transfer of management control.

PHL is a joint venture of GoI and ONGC providing helicopter and aero mobility services. GoI holds 51% of the shares in the company and ONGC holds the balance 49%. ONGC has earlier decided to offer its entire shareholding to the successful bidder identified in the GoI strategic disinvestment transaction, on the same price and terms as GoI.

CCEA had approved the strategic disinvestment of entire GoI stake in PHL in October, 2016. The transaction had been attempted thrice in the past. In the first round, the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) was issued on 13 October 2017 seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI). Out of four EOIs received, only one was found eligible and the transaction was cancelled. In the second round, PIM was issued seeking EOIs on 14 April, 2018 and two bidders were found eligible and were issued the Request for Proposal (RFP). Finally, however, a single, incomplete bid non-compliant with the RFP was received. In the third round, PIM was issued seeking EOIs on 11 July 2019. Out of four EOIs received, only one was found eligible and the process was cancelled. This is the fourth iteration with request for Expressions of Interest (EoI) invited on 8 December 2020. Seven EoIs were received and four interested bidders were shortlisted as qualified bidders. After detailed due diligence, the qualified bidders were invited to submit financial bids. Three financial bids were received.  

As per extant procedure, the Reserve Price for sale of 51% shareholding of PHL was fixed at Rs 199.92 crore, on the basis of valuation carried out by experts (transaction adviser and asset valuer). Thereafter, the three bids were opened in the presence of the bidders. All three bids were found to be valid. M/s Star9 Mobility Private Ltd, a consortium of M/s Big Charter Private Limited, M/s Maharaja Aviation Private Limited and M/s Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC; emerged as the highest bidder quoting Rs 211.14 crore, which was above the Reserve Price. The other two bids were for Rs 181.05 crore and Rs 153.15 crore. Following due deliberations, the financial bid of M/s Star9 Mobility Private Limited has been accepted by the Government.

The strategic disinvestment transaction was implemented through an open, competitive bidding process supported by a multi-layered consultative decision making mechanism involving Inter Ministerial Group, Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment and the empowered Alternative Mechanism. The transaction now moves to the concluding stage. The next steps are issuing of the Letter of Award, signing of the Share Purchase Agreement and closing of the transaction.

PHL has been incurring losses in the last three years (FY-19, FY-20 and FY-21). The company has a fleet of 42 helicopters with 41 of them owned by the company. The owned helicopters have an average age of over 20 years and three-fourths of them are presently not being manufactured by the original equipment manufacturer. With this privatization, it is expected that the strategic buyer will revitalize the company by replacing the aging fleet through infusion of fresh capital and improve the performance of the company.

Strategic disinvestment: highest bidder selected for transfer of government shareholding and management control, proceeding to transaction closing. Government approval was given for the strategic disinvestment of 51% of Pawan Hans Limited and transfer of management control to M/s Star9 Mobility Private Ltd, selected as the highest valid bidder in an open competitive process after due diligence. A reserve price set on expert valuation was met; three financial bids were validated and the successful bidder exceeded the reserve. The transaction moves to issuance of the Letter of Award, signing of the Share Purchase Agreement and closing, with ONGC offering its shareholding on the same terms and the buyer expected to invest in fleet renewal.