SELLING 60 MILLION SHARES TO SOLENTA TO RAISE OVER 16 MILLION US DOLLARS FOR FASTJET SEEN AS GAME CHANGER
(Posted Friday the 13th of October 2017)
The shareholder structure of pan African low cost carrier Fastjet is set to change considerably when partner Solenta Aviation of South Africa acquires another 60 million shares, said to be worth over 16 million US Dollars. The European influence under which Fastjet set out to conquer the African skies with their low cost concept, will be reduced as the South African influence will rise as Solenta Aviation, over and above the 28 percent they already hold, will now acquire a further 60 million shares.
With the fleet renewal phase one now almost complete, the first of two Embraer E190’s is now in Tanzania and a second will follow over the next two or three weeks while for Zimbabwe two Embraer ERJ145’s have been seconded to the airline by Solenta Aviation, has the last Airbus A319 left the fleet, ending the start up era concept and moving on to a fleet of more right sized planes given the routes the airline presently serves.
It was also confirmed that the airline intends to raise a further 28 million US Dollars through what capital markets refer to an ‘Accelerated Bookbuild‘ – for the benefit of readers defined as ‘A short-term, non-promoted offering of new shares of equity in which the bookbuild is done between one or two days to allow a company to quickly gain financing in a controlled sale‘.
The company has yet to comment on these developments and it could not be established if the Board of Directors has formally approved the measures or if these plans may have to be ratified at a later stage by shareholders, as existing holdings could be affected through a dilution effect.
What is clear though is that the Bezuidenhout team is now steaming ahead with the rebuilding of the brand after the foundation was laid with the fleet exchange, phase one. Sources in South Africa have suggested that Fastjet has in face now set its eyes also on Mozambique and South Africa itself – something raised here before – through a deal, also still to be officially confirmed – with Federal Airlines and Solenta Aviation Mozambique.
Closer to home will Tanzania no doubt breath a sigh of relief when the second Embraer E190 will join as at that stage a full schedule can be resumed, offering Tanzanians the most affordable air fares, as long as they book early enough or take advantage of the periodic special sales activities by Fastjet.
Out of Dar es Salaam does FN serve Kilimanjaro, Mwanza and Mbeya and flies regionally to Lusaka and Harare though it is hoped that services to Johannesburg will resume sooner rather than later to bring relief for passengers now charged an arm and a leg by South African Airways, the only carrier currently providing nonstop flights.
Find links to previous related articles below:
https://atcnews.org/2017/08/25/fastjet-tanzania-registers-a-solenta-aviation-erj145/
https://atcnews.org/2017/06/30/fastjet-acquires-brand-rights-from-stelios-haji-ioannou/
https://atcnews.org/2017/06/07/fastjet-losses-double-as-ceo-blames-former-management/
https://atcnews.org/2017/01/24/share-sale-approval-rings-in-new-era-for-fastjet/
