IndiGo airline’s biggest shareholder will sell a 2 per cent stake worth USD 394 million in the low-cost Indian carrier on Tuesday, per a term sheet seen by Reuters, marking its first such sale in at least four years during which the company’s stock has soared.
Interglobe Enterprises, which had a 37.75 per cent stake in Interglobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, will sell the shares at a base price of 4,266 rupees each, the term sheet showed.
That is a 6.6 per cent discount to the stock’s closing price on Monday. The stock slid 3.6 per cent to 4,403.40 rupees on Tuesday.
Interglobe Enterprises, led by Rahul Bhatia, the co-founder of IndiGo, cannot sell further shares for another 365 days, the term sheet showed.
Following the conclusion of the country’s largest electoral activity, the Aviation Ministry has initiated efforts on a new project: urban air mobility. Reports suggest that India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is rumored to have established several technical committees to develop a roadmap for the introduction of air taxis in the country. The project is expected to commence in major urban centers such as Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru by 2026, with plans to expand to other cities like Chennai and Hyderabad thereafter.
This is Interglobe Enterprises’ first stake sale in at least four years, per exchange data, during which the stock has more than quadrupled in value. In contrast, Rakesh Gangwal, IndiGo’s other co-founder, and his wife Shobha have trimmed their stake for more than a year now through multiple share sales.
Still, IndiGo’s stock has risen roughly 85 per cent over the last one year, hitting multiple all-time highs during that period.
Interglobe Enterprises also operates in the hospitality as well as logistics sectors, and has partnered with U.S.-based Archer Aviation to start electric air taxis in India.
Around 1.1 million IndiGo shares changed hands via block trades on Tuesday, per National Stock Exchange data, all at a discount to the last closing price, but above the base price.
IndiGo has over a thousand jets on order from Airbus, is betting on long-haul travel and will introduce business-class cabin later this year.
Citigroup is the sole broker for the deal.
