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SRI LANKAN WOOS GLOBAL GIANTS
By 2016-09-29
By Ishara Gamage
Ceylon Finance Today: US based global private equity giants TPG Capital's Asian Unit and BlackRock, Inc have rallied to invest in SriLankan Airlines, International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema said. He said there were seven bids for SriLankan Airlines. According to other sources, the seven interested parties were, Cross Stream Europe,...
SriLankan...
... SAT Singapore Airline Terminal ,TPG Asia, Senuk Asia Pvt Ltd, Peace Air (owned by Sri Lankan businessman Gamini Wettasinghe based in London and Singapore),Super Group Partners Company Ltd and BlackRock, Inc.
The TPG Asia is also a controlling shareholder of Sri Lanka's Union Bank and its related TPG Growth has recently acquired a 28% stake in Asiri Hospital Holdings .
Minister Samarawickrema said, the government is ready to take over the airline's existing debt burden and hand over the management control to the new investor.
"Depending on discussions we were ready to hand over even more than 50% ownership to the new investor", he said.
The government is also planning to amalgamate loss making Mihin Air with SriLankan Air or otherwise sell off of the company.
Two months ago, the government has called offers from strategic investors to sell loss-making SrLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka, with BNP Paribas and KPMG appointed as transaction advisers.
NSB Fund Management, a unit of State-run National Savings Bank was the lead managers to the deal.
SriLankan Airlines had borrowed in international markets with Treasury guarantees and also taken credit from domestic State banks to fund losses.
SriLankan Airlines has been facing increased competition, especially from Gulf carriers, and earlier this year the government said it was considering an equity buy-in from another airline and possible aircraft order cancellations to stem ongoing losses. This was followed by some network cuts.
Emirates acquired a 40% stake in SriLankan for $70M in 1998 and increased its shareholding to 43.6%, with the government holding a 51% majority. But the partners hit troubles in 2008, triggering a government buy-back in 2010.
By 2016-09-29
By Ishara Gamage
Ceylon Finance Today: US based global private equity giants TPG Capital's Asian Unit and BlackRock, Inc have rallied to invest in SriLankan Airlines, International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema said. He said there were seven bids for SriLankan Airlines. According to other sources, the seven interested parties were, Cross Stream Europe,...
SriLankan...
... SAT Singapore Airline Terminal ,TPG Asia, Senuk Asia Pvt Ltd, Peace Air (owned by Sri Lankan businessman Gamini Wettasinghe based in London and Singapore),Super Group Partners Company Ltd and BlackRock, Inc.
The TPG Asia is also a controlling shareholder of Sri Lanka's Union Bank and its related TPG Growth has recently acquired a 28% stake in Asiri Hospital Holdings .
Minister Samarawickrema said, the government is ready to take over the airline's existing debt burden and hand over the management control to the new investor.
"Depending on discussions we were ready to hand over even more than 50% ownership to the new investor", he said.
The government is also planning to amalgamate loss making Mihin Air with SriLankan Air or otherwise sell off of the company.
Two months ago, the government has called offers from strategic investors to sell loss-making SrLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka, with BNP Paribas and KPMG appointed as transaction advisers.
NSB Fund Management, a unit of State-run National Savings Bank was the lead managers to the deal.
SriLankan Airlines had borrowed in international markets with Treasury guarantees and also taken credit from domestic State banks to fund losses.
SriLankan Airlines has been facing increased competition, especially from Gulf carriers, and earlier this year the government said it was considering an equity buy-in from another airline and possible aircraft order cancellations to stem ongoing losses. This was followed by some network cuts.
Emirates acquired a 40% stake in SriLankan for $70M in 1998 and increased its shareholding to 43.6%, with the government holding a 51% majority. But the partners hit troubles in 2008, triggering a government buy-back in 2010.
Some of the names look dead set wrong. For example, I doubt Singapore Airport Terminal (SATS) would be bidding for SriLankan Airlines. Out of the above list TPG looks like the best partner since they have experience in turning around airlines. Blackrock would also be good too, these guys know how to make money and have the relationships with the leasing companies and banks to make this happen.
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