SpiceJet's engine lessors reject promoter Ajay Singh's offer to pledge personal shares towards airline's liability
SpiceJet seems to be mounting as its engine lessors — Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS — on Monday rejected its promoter Ajay Singh’s offer to pledge his personal shares, equivalent to the outstanding dues of $2.5 million, towards discharge of the airline’s liability.
Senior counsel, Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Spicejet, told the Delhi High Court that Singh is willing to pledge his unencumbered shares towards discharge of the airline’s liability with the HC and the same can be encashed if it failed to pay till September 30. “We are not putting any conditions. The court can pass orders for immediate release if we don’t pay between now and September 30,” he argued.
However, the lessors rejected the offer, saying they don’t want “pledge of shares of a company whose existence is shaky…The pledge is not acceptable. We have given them a long leash. We want our engines back. And we have been asking for disclosure of Singh’s assets since January,” senior counsel Raj Shekar Rao told a Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.
Expressing some doubt about the stability of the share price, the judge also told Sethi that lessors are not confident about the value of the shareholdings. “It has been fluctuating…Its possible that the shares will be volatile,” She observed while asking Singh if he can double the shareholding for pledge.
“We can give them 15 days to return our three engines. They can take off the engines from the aircraft in a day and we can have the inspection of the engines so as to have clarity
