IndiGo shares sink 17% as airline founders’ feud erupts

Shares in the parent company of IndiGo plunged on Wednesday after a dispute between the billionaire co-founders of India's largest airline intensified.  Interglobe Aviation fell as much as 17% after Rakesh Gangwal said in a letter to the market regulator that “fundamental governance norms and laws are not being adhered”. Gangwal, who holds a 37% stake in the company, said in the letter posted to the Bombay Stock Exchange, that governance standards had “collapsed” at the airline and called on the regulator to take away the “unusual” controlling rights exercised by co-founder Rahul Bhatia, who holds a 38% stake. The shareholder agreement gives Bhatia’s IGE Group the power to appoint three of the six directors, and the right to nominate and appoint the managing director, CE and president, according to the letter. “Most of these rights are not in accordance with [Securities and Exchange Board of India] regulations,” added Gangwal in the letter. “These unusual controlling rights seem to be the basis for the various violations of law and governance at IndiGo.” The bitter feud threatens to distract the leadership at a time the company is in a prime position to embark on an aggressive international expansion and move into the vacuum left by the collapse of full-service carrier Jet Airways.  <br/>