Lenders of Defunct Jet Airways Reach Settlement With Owner Of Premises Which Hosted Airline’s Erstwhile HQ

The Committee of Creditors (CoC) of the now defunct Jet Airways have approved an out of court settlement with Luckystar Property Holding, the present owner of Siroya Centre, the building that once served as headquarters of the airline.

The counsel for the resolution professional of Jet Airways informed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) about the recent development.

The CoC of Jet Airways has approved the consent terms of the deal with Luckystar Property Holding through a resolution on October 4, where an overwhelming 95.5% of Jet Airways’ lenders favored the settlement, the resolution professional’s lawyer informed the NCLT recently.

The NCLT was informed that the defunct airline’s lenders have reached an agreement to settle the dispute out-of-court on a commercial basis since Jet can now use its own vacant premises.

Incidentally, Luckystar and Jet Airways’ Committee of Creditors (CoC) were in talks since August.

It may be recalled that the custodian of the airline’s assets had informed the NCLT that the defunct airline was willing to vacate its headquarters and another office in Mumbai to resolve its disputes with Luckystar Property Holdings and mortgage lender HDFC Ltd.

Earlier, the owner of the Siroya House property had approached the Mumbai bench of the NCLT soon after the company went into the insolvency resolution process.

However, at present, the NCLT has reserved its order on the settlement and asked the parties if the revival plan of the airline would be affected if its headquarters is shifted.

Incidentally, Luckystar’s counsel told the NCLT that though the lease for the Siroya House building was terminated on June 7 and the company was admitted for debt resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code on June 20, but the defunct airline’s goods including computers and files are still in the office premises.

The resolution professional of the Jet Airways case has received claims worth around Rs 30,000 crore and has so far accepted only about one-third of the claims from financial creditors. The resolution professional has accepted close to Rs 8,500 crore from financial institutions and is in the process of verifying claims worth Rs 15,000 crore.