Grapevine: Air India seeks tie-ups for AIESL bid; Continuum Green gets two bidders

By Shubhobrota Dev Roy

  • 19 Apr 2023
Credit: Thinkstock

Tata Sons-owned Air India is seeking to join hands with either Lufthansa’s aircraft maintenance business Lufthansa Technik or Air France-KLM’s engineering vertical to bid for AI Engineering Services Ltd, when it is put up for sale, a media report said. 

Singapore Airlines, which holds a 25.1% stake in Air India, will also be a part of the consortium through its engineering arm SIA Engineering Company Ltd, The Economic Times reported. 

AI Engineering, the erstwhile engineering arm of Air India, is currently owned by the India government. It is a maintenance, repair and operations company that caters largely to Air India’s fleet.   

EverSource Capital and JSW Neo Energy have been shortlisted to buy a controlling stake in Morgan Stanley-backed Continuum Green Energy, The Economic Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.  

The enterprise value of the deal is pegged at $1.5 billion.  

EverSource is a joint venture of Indian private equity firm Everstone Capital and the UK-based Lightsource BP. JSW Neo is a subsidiary of billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Energy Ltd. 

Others who submitted non-binding offers for Continuum were Statkraft, infrastructure-focussed private equity firm I Squared Capital and a consortium involving an investment firm, which could not be identified, the report said.