- Shareholders in African low-cost carrier fastjet have approved the sale of a 28% stake to Johannesburg-based Solenta Aviation Holdings.
Shareholders in African low-cost carrier fastjet have approved the sale of a 28% stake to Johannesburg-based Solenta Aviation Holdings.
The company will now proceed, as planned, with the listing of 239 million new shares on Jan. 24. Solenta will take 95.6 million of the total and the remainder will be issued as a share placement.
The transactions, which take fastjet to a total of 335.8 million shares, are expected to generate gross proceeds of $28.8 million.
Solenta, which operates a fleet of 49 aircraft, is a commercial aviation group that holds five African air operator’s certificates (AOCs) and has strategic alliances, or AOCs pending, in a further seven African countries.
Under the agreement, Solenta will receive 95.6 million fastjet shares and two board nominations. In return, Solenta will provide fastjet with three wet-leased aircraft and other services over the next five years.
The move forms part of fastjet’s stabilization plan, under the leadership of new CEO and interim chairman Nico Bezuidenhout. This strategy will see the group transition from 145-seat Airbus A319s to Embraer E190s. The LCC is rationalizing its network and will relocate its headquarters from London to Johannesburg by March 2017.
Fastjet launched operations in Tanzania in November 2012 and has been trying to establish itself as a pan-African LCC. However, the group’s strategy has progressed more slowly than anticipated because of regulatory hurdles and shifting demand in the African market.
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