Tata Sons confirms takeover talks with Jet Airways, but says offer not made yet

 Tata Sons has confirmed that the group has been in talks with Jet Airways over possible takeover of the beleaguered airline, but said no formal proposal has been offered so far.

"Over the last few days there has been growing speculation in the print and electronic media about Tata's interest in Jet Airways. We would like to clarify that any such discussions have been preliminary and no proposal has been made," a Tata Sons spokesperson said.

Earlier, it was reported that the board of Tata Sons will meet on Friday to discuss a proposal to take over Jet Airways, which is looking for investors to tide over liquidity crunch that it is saddled with.

Airline's deputy chief executive and chief financial officer Amit Agarwal earlier this week had also admitted that the company was in talks with "multiple interested parties" for fund infusion as well as selling six of its Boeing 777 planes and a stake in its loyalty progarmme Jet Privilege.

Besides Goyal, who along with his family owns 51 percent stake in the carrier, Gulf carrier Etihad Airways holds 24 percent stake in the cash-strapped airline which earlier this week reported Rs 1,261 crore loss for the September quarter against a profit of Rs 71 crore y-o-y, making it the third straight quarters of heavy losses.

The airline recently put as many as six of its Boeing 777s on sale to part-fund liquidity. Media reports suggest that the parent company of Vistara, Tata-Singapore Airlines, is looking at all-stock merger with Jet Airways as part of the Tata group's plans to board Goyal's full service carrier.

With agency inputs