IndiGo co-founder and promoter Rahul Bhatia will now have complete control over India’s largest domestic airline. Rakesh Gangwal, who along with Bhatia had launched IndiGo at the start of this millennium, resigned with immediate effect as director from the board of the airline’s holding company InterGlobe Aviation.
Gangwal will reduce his stake gradually over the next five years “to benefit from some of the upside”. Groups led by Gangwal and Bhatia, who was appointed MD earlier this month, collectively hold 74. 4% stake in the airline, almost equally. Gangwal is credited with the mega aircraft orders IndiGo had placed in its early years. The two promoters - who were engaged in a bitter legal battle for the past few years - no longer need each other’s nod to sell their stakes, following a recent amendment to the AoA. In a letter to board members, Gangwal said, “I continue to be a big believer in the long-term prospects of IndiGo and more so now with the industry consolidation under way. . . . only natural to someday think about diversifying one’s holdings. Accordingly, my current intention is to slowly reduce my equity stake in the company over the next five-plus years.”
The US-based Gangwal said the resignation was to ensure he does not get any “unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI)” at a time when he will be reducing his holdings. However, he left the room for rethink open, saying, “…Like any plan, future events may impact my current thinking…. Sometime in the future, I shall consider participating again as a board member.”
