NEW DELHI: The Alternative Mechanism, a committee empowered by the CCEA, has approved the highest bid of Star 9 Mobility Private Ltd for sale of the entire government’s 51 per cent of shareholding of Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) and transfer of management control.

PHL is a joint venture of Government of India (GoI) and ONGC providing helicopter and aero mobility services. GoI holds 51 percent of the shares in the company and ONGC holds the balance 49 percent. This is the fourth iteration with a request for EOI—Expression of Interest, invited on December 8, 2020. Seven EoIs were received and four interested bidders were shortlisted as qualified bidders. After detailed due diligence, the qualified bidders were invited to submit financial bids. Three financial bids were received.

As per extant procedure, the Reserve Price for sale of 51 per cent shareholding of PHL was fixed at Rs 199.92 crore, on the basis of valuation carried out by experts including transaction adviser and asset valuer. Thereafter, the three bids were opened in the presence of the bidders. All three bids were found to be valid. M/s Star9 Mobility Private Ltd, a consortium of M/s Big Charter Private Limited, M/s Maharaja Aviation Private Limited and M/s Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC; emerged as the highest bidder quoting Rs 211.14 crore, which was above the reserve price.