Jet Airways rallies over 8% on possible closure of Etihad deal in September

NEW DELHI: Jet Airways Ltd rallied as much as 8.2 per cent in morning trade on Wednesday on reports that Etihad is likely to complete its purchase of a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways by September 20 as all regulatory clearances are expected to be in place by then.

At 09:20 a.m.; Jet Airways was trading 6.8 per cent higher at Rs 330.60. It has hit a low of Rs 323.50 and a high of Rs 335 in trade today.

The deal, once consummated, will see an inflow of $379 million (Rs 2,500 crore), bolstering India's capital account, ET reported. India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on late Tuesday cleared a proposal for additional air services between India and Abu Dhabi.

The last piece of the regulatory jigsaw is an approval from the Competition Commission. The deal has already received approval from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the central government agency that approves inflow of foreign investments and from the Cabinet Committee on Economic affairs.

On April 24, the day that Jet announced its deal with Etihad, the government had announced the signing of an MoU with the government of UAE, more than tripling the weekly number of seats allocated to carriers flying between India and Abu Dhabi to above 50,000, ET said in a report.