Interups, Inc. (OTCPK:ITUP) has backed out from submitting a bid for Air India Limited citing legal complications. Laxmi Prasad, Founder of Interups, confirmed the decision to BusinessLine. He explained that when he had electronically submitted an expression of interest, he had offered 51% stake to the employees. However, “there is one more EoI placed by a group of employees. Filing a separate bid with a common affiliation will bring legal conflict and there is a possibility of both bids being ejected as disqualified. To keep the employees bid surviving, we have hence chosen to not to submit but we shall extend the same offer and financial participation that we otherwise were willing,” he said. On December 14, 2020 two other potential bidders — Tata Sons, a consortium of Air India employees led by Meenakshi Malik, the airline’s Director, Commercial — besides Interups had submitted an EoI, electronically. In a LinkedIn post, Prasad had said: “We have committed in our EOI that we will be spending substantial money over the next 5 years in Aviation and we will ensure to see Air India gain its slot and position. We will soon be hosting a virtual meeting inviting all to join this deep effort we are pursuing in nation’s interest - Let us turn Air India fly high!”. He had plans to resurrect the airline within five years. According to Prasad, his bid was supposed to “surprise everyone.” Now, after withdrawing his bid, Prasad said that he is still willing to support the employees in their bid and offer them 51 %.
Interups, Inc. is engaged in the business of identifying and investing into, and acquiring business opportunities or transactions, and conducting and offering turnkey services in India. The Company researches, identifies, assesses and invests into business acquisitions or asset transactions either directly or on behalf of its stakeholders, affiliates, associate concerns and clients with its sector focus mainly into agriculture, education, financial services and merchant banking, healthcare, hospitality, infrastructure, mining and real estate. It specializes in crafting turnkey solutions involving financial and strategic challenges for a set of businesses around the world, including firms, corporations, governments, institutions, partnerships and individuals. The Company assists clients in their capital, business structuring needs and acquire or invest into them by reviewing, analyzing and modeling various structural alternatives and assisting in their financial and management needs.