SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal quits, Kishore Gupta appointed acting CEO
02 Jul 2010
Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer of SpiceJet, has resigned from the company barely three weeks after its acquisition by Kalanithi Maran, the owner of Sun TV.
Agarwal was widely believed to have been instrumental in the budget carrier's recent turnaround.
Newspaper reports quoting unnamed sources said Aggarwal resigned on Wednesday evening and that Kishore Gupta, a director since 2000, has been appointed as acting CEO.
On 13 June, Maran bought a 37.7 per cent stake in the budget airline from promoter Bhupendra Kansagra and US investor Wilbur Ross for Rs746 crore.
Maran will have to make an open offer, for a minimum 20 per cent stake, to the minority shareholders of the company, according to SEBI takeover and acquisition rules. This is expected to happen in August, subject to SEBI approvals, according to the report.
US billionaire Ross had brought Aggarwal to SpiceJet in 2008, when Ross invested $80 million in the ailing company. Aggarwal replaced the then CEO Siddhant Sharma.
SpiceJet, with a 12 per cent share of the domestic market, has the highest operational efficiency amongst low-cost carriers. It posted a net profit of Rs27.8 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2010 as against a Rs7.8 crore loss in the year-ago period. The company's cash reserve stood at a healthy Rs450 crore in the year ended March 2010.
The company is to add five aircraft this fiscal and plans to add at least 28 over the next 10 years. SpiceJet currently has a fleet of 20 aircraft and is planning to launch international flights from this month.