Capt Gopinath's Deccan 360 to raise equity
28 Dec 2009
Mumbai: Low-cost aviation pioneer, Captain GR Gopinath, may be initiating moves to raise equity for his latest airline cargo venture, Deccan 360. The $625-million domestic express cargo market is expected to grow at 20 per cent over the next five years.
It is being given to understand that Capt Gopinath may seek to raise as much as Rs200 crore through sale of a 25 per cent stake in his new cargo company.
Talks may be on with European and US-based private equity firms.
Capt Gopinath has already invested about Rs125 crore in this start-up raising proceeds from sale of his stake in Kingfisher Airlines, where his holdings have now come down to 1.75%, from 9% in June 2008.
Deccan Express Logistics will be competing against other players such as Blue Dart, Gati, TNT Express and First Flight.
Deccan Express is seeking atleast 100 franchisees in the first phase of its operations and intends to take on 5,000 people over the next five years. It will set up an extensive multi-modal storage, transportation and delivery network through its cargo hub at Nagpur and facilities at Delhi and Hyderabad airports.
Capt Gopinath had earlier established India's first low-cost carrier, Air Deccan, which was subsequently taken over by Kingfisher Airlines.
