Kingfisher Airlines in talks with investors for stake sale: Vijay Mallya

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, which has been grounded for almost a year for want of cash, is in talks with a foreign investor for a potential stake sale, chairman Vijay Mallya said on Tuesday, without naming any investor.

"I expect this to take some form or shape in the next 90 days. That is my own estimate," Mr. Mallya told reporters after the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Mr. Mallya has several times in the past said that the company was in talks with potential investors, but the plans have not materialised so far.

The airline has also approached the board of United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL), the group holding company, for some funding to pay off salaries, according to reports.

The announcement comes even as around 100 employees of the beleaguered airline threatened to go on strike today over non-payment of salaries, which have not been paid for nearly 14 months now.

The last salary that the employees have received is for July 2012, which they got in April this year.

Kingfisher Airlines has been grounded since October last year after a bunch of pilots and engineers went on strike protesting non-payment of salaries. Its flying licence expired on December 31. The airline has two years to renew it.

After the licence expired, the airline has twice submitted revival plans to the regulator in bids to restart operations, but the authorities are yet to be convinced.

Kingfisher Airlines, once India's second-biggest carrier, owes more than $1 billion to a consortium of mostly state-run banks and hundreds of millions of dollars more to airports, tax authorities and others.

Kingfisher had accumulated losses of over Rs. 16,000 crore as on March 31, 2013, while it had a negative net worth of close to Rs. 13,000 crore. Its long-term borrowings stood at about Rs. 6,900 crore, while short-term borrowings were Rs. 1,750 crore at the end of last fiscal.