Spicejet founder Director Ajay Singh exits board

August 27, 2010 07:40 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:26 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Ajay Singh, one of the founder directors of Spicejet, has left the board of the low-cost airline, paving the way for restructuring of the company by its new owner Kalanithi Maran, the promoter of Sun TV.

The company, in its annual general meeting (AGM) held on Friday, also announced that along with Mr. Singh, another director of Spicejet Atul Sharma had decided to leave the company.

“One of the agenda items of the AGM was about Ajay Singh and Atul Sharma leaving the company board. They have been our directors for a long time. We appreciate their contribution,” Spicejet interim CEO Kishore Gupta told reporters after the AGM.

Mr. Singh, along with London-based NRI Bhupendra Kansagra, set up the second largest domestic no-frills carrier in 2005. He is likely to keep his 4.13 per cent stake in the airline, although he did not respond to calls or text messages sent to him.

After the exit of Mr. Ajay Singh and Mr. Atul Sharma, the Spicejet board now has six members, including interim CEO Kishore Gupta. The other members are: Bhupendra Kansagra, Mukkaram Jan, A Maheshwary, Vijay Kumar and Ranjit Nabha.

The restructuring of the Spicejet board is expected to take place after an open offer by Mr. Maran for an additional 20 per cent equity in the company. The open offer was supposed to take place this month, but was postponed by the new promoters.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has already approved the induction of Mr. Maran and five others — Kavery Kalanithi Maran, M. K. Harinarayanan, J. Ravindran, S. Sridharan and Nicholas Martin Paul — into the company board.

Mr. Gupta said the dates for the open offer would be announced in the next few days, as the company was waiting for the nod from market regulator SEBI. “I think it could be any day ... We are just waiting to hear from SEBI,” Mr. Gupta said.

KAL Airways, a firm owned by the Sun TV Chief, had bought a total stake of 37.7 per cent in the airline in June at a cost of Rs. 746 crore, with the option of acquiring another 20 per cent stake through an open offer. The open offer would involve an outgo of around Rs. 480 crore, taking the overall deal size to Rs. 1,220 crore.

The AGM also approved a proposal to increase the authorised share capital of the company from Rs. 415 crore to Rs. 500 crore.

Shares of the airline closed at Rs. 72 a piece on Friday, up 0.56 per cent from the previous close.

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