Way for the merger of Air India and Vistara is cleared, the National Company Law Tribunal approved
NCLT: The Chandigarh bench of NCLT approved the overall arrangement scheme involving Tales, Air India, and Vistara in a 31-page decision. All are part of the Tata Group. Air India hopes that the merger will be completed by the end of this year.
On Thursday, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) authorized Air India's merger with Vistara. This paved the way for it to become one of the world's major airline groups. After the merger, Singapore Airlines will own 25.1% of Air India. Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and the Tata Group.
The NCLT bench in Chandigarh approved the entire arrangement scheme involving Tales, Air India, and Vistara in a 31-page order. They are all part of the Tata Group. Air India anticipates the merger will be finalized by the end of the year. The NCLT's two-member Chandigarh bench stated that the scheme has already acquired shareholder and creditor approval from both airline companies.
The NCLT order said the overall arrangement scheme between the petitioner companies and their shareholders under sections 230 to 232 and other provisions of the Companies Act 2013 is approved. It said that the scheme would be binding on the companies and their respective shareholders.
The order also said that the companies will ensure foreign direct investment (FDI) approval from Singapore Airlines (Vistara's shareholder) and the necessary security clearance under the relevant CARs (Civil Aviation Regulations) from DGCA/MOCA within a time frame of nine months from the date of this order. In March this year, Singapore's competition regulator CCCS gave conditional approval to the proposed merger. In September 2023, the deal got approval from CCI with certain conditions. The Tata Group took over the loss-making Air India in January 2022.
