New Delhi, Oct 10 (TIWN) The Centre on Friday declared Tata Sons' subsidiary Talace as the highest bidder for national carrier Air India under the divestment process.

The bid was higher than the consortium led by industrialist Ajay Singh. The consortium had quoted an EV of Rs 15,100 crore.  On its part, the Centre had stipulated a reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore.  There were only two bidders in the final stage of divestment.  Conglomerate Tata Sons was touted to be the front-runner to get hold of the carrier.  Based on the bid results, the Centre will enter into a share purchase agreement (SPA) with Talace by December-end.  The decision to enter into the SPA with the Tatas was taken by the empowered Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism, it was announced here by Divestment Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey.  "The next step will be to issue the Letter of Intent (LoI) and then sign the Share Purchase Agreement following which, the conditions precedent would need to be satisfied by the successful bidder, the company and Government," an official communique said.  "It is expected that the transaction will be completed by December 2021."