GoAir plans Rs 2,500 crore-IPO early next fiscal; likely to file preliminary papers in April

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Mumbai: Wadia group-owned GoAir plans to come out with a Rs 2,500 crore-initial share sale early next fiscal, according to people familiar with the matter.

The no-frills airline has been working on expansion plans and an initial public offer (IPO) will help in raising funds. In recent months, many companies have hit the capital market with their IPOs amid business activities slowly normalising after the pandemic blow.

The carrier, which started operations in 2005, has been contemplating about going public in the last couple of years.

The airline, which has also been witnessing frequent churns in the top management, could not come out with the IPO on a few occasions earlier.

“GoAir is gearing up to raise funds to the tune of around Rs 2,500 crore from public investors and is likely to initiate this process with the filing of DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus) around the second week of April,” one of the people said.

Consultations are progressing with ICICI Securities on the modalities of the proposed IPO, the people mentioned above said.

According to them, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are also involved in helping the airline with its IPO plan.

In response to an e-mail query sent to the airline’s CEO Kaushik Khona, a spokesperson said, “as a policy, GoAir does not comment on market speculation”.

GoAir flies to 39 destinations, including 10 international ones.

Currently, only two Indian carriers—SpiceJet and IndiGo—are trading on the bourses. Jet Airways, which is a listed company, was shuttered in April 2019 due to financial woes. Kingfisher Airlines, which went belly up in 2012, was also listed on the exchanges. There are seven major domestic scheduled air operators in India.

In the case of GoAir, there have been frequent changes in management over the years. Last week, Jeh Wadia, the airline’s promoter, resigned as the managing director while former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza was appointed as its vice chairman. Baldanza had successfully led Spirit Airlines IPO in 2011.