Reported By:
| Edited By: Ramiya Bhas |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 16, 2018, 06:02 AM IST
Billionaire Vijay Mallya, who is desperately trying to tie up funds for its debt-ridden airline, has hurriedly roped in a senior executive of his beer company United Breweries Ltd (UBL) to fill up a vacancy in his airline firm Kingfisher Airlines so that the process of fundraising is not derailed.
Ravikant Sabnavis, the divisional vice-president of UBL, has stepped into the shoes of Vikram Malhotra, who quit as the marketing head of Kingfisher Airlines a month ago.
Industry experts said Sabnavis’ transfer to Kingfisher has come as surprise as coming from consumer goods industry, they doubt whether he would possess the expertise to handle marketing and selling of plane seats.
“This move has come as a surprise as he is used to marketing a consumer product (beer), and this sudden shift may not give him enough time to understand the airline market,” said an analyst on condition of anonymity.
A Kingfisher Airline spokesperson confirmed the appointment of Sabnavis; “He (Sabnavis) took charge (of the marketing division of Kingfisher) a week back after the exit of the former VP (Malhotra),” he said.
In his 16 years of professional life, Sabnavis has never worked with an airline. His marketing and advertising experience includes stints with Heinz India Pvt Ltd, Agro Tech Foods Ltd — an associate company of ConAgra Foods — and Lintas India Ltd.
Sources say Sabnavis could have been brought in temporarily till Mallya finds an airline professional for marketing head’s post.
“Since Kingfisher is in the market to raise funds, it could not afford to have the marketing heads’ post vacant. It could have jeopardised its chance of closing any deals,” he said.
The carrier has announced plans to raise close to Rs 843.5 crore ($175 million) by selling shares and global depository receipts (GDRs) to repay debt. Of this, $80-100 million would be raised through a rights issue and $60-75 million through a GDR issue.
The airline’s accumulated losses for the last fiscal was Rs 9,760 crore ($2 billion).
