Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and Paramount Airways are meeting merchant bankers of SpiceJet this week for a possible acquisition, reports Business Standard. According to the paper, investment bankers and company executives from the SpiceJet side will be attending the meeting.

The report said that Jet Airways already conducted a preliminary round of meetings with the SpiceJet executives in London last week. Kingfisher and Paramount Airways are expected to join the fray this week.

However, Istithmar, the Dubai-based majority shareholder fund invested in SpiceJet has said that it has no intention to cash out of SpiceJet now. An Istithmar official told Times of India last week that the airline is well-funded and that it does not any partner or external investment to meet its requirements. Istithmar described its investment in SpiceJet as a strategic investment. The other major shareholder is the NRI Kansagra family. There have been reports off and on, that the Kansagras or the Dubai fund will cash out of the company.

Meanwhile, in a letter to all its employees, the SpiceJet management assured that it was not for sale. The letter said that unlike other airlines which are still in the middle of fund raising, Spicejet has already completed its fund raising and does not need outside investors.

In either case, SpiceJet promoters cannot exit the company as of now. The shareholders’ agreement between the promoters has a clause which prevents them from exiting the company before February 2008. However, this does not prevent the company from bringing in investors from outside with a preferential share issue if it wants.

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