Private equity firm prepares for takeoff with proposed acquisition of FlySafair

Big news in South Africa's aviation industry on Tuesday, as private equity firm Harith General Partners announced the completion of a deal to buy low-cost airline FlySafair.

The proposed transaction is still subject to approval by various regulators as part of the normal oversight applicable to licensed airlines.

Harith said in a statement that the investment is aligned with FlySafair's existing trajectory and "supports the airline's continued focus on operational excellence and sustainable growth".

Continuity will be maintained under the budget flyer's existing leadership.

In conversation with Stephen Grootes, FlySafair's Chief Marketing Officer Kirby Gordon notes that the sale of the airline has been in discussion for years.

"It's not that (majority shareholder) ASL Aviation Holdings, the trust and of course the local BEE shareholders invested in FlySafair actually decided to sell now. The transaction's been in the works for a while - back as far as 2019 there was a proposed deal that didn't go ahead with Airlink, which was already an indication of the intention of the shareholders to exit the asset that they had created."

Emphasizing that the shareholders had created an asset of value that has increased in value quite considerably, Gordon does acknowledge that the ongoing to-and-fro over FlySafair’s foreign ownership structure would have played a role in the decision.

RELATED: Court overturns FlySafair’s 12-month deadline to fix foreign ownership

"They just took some time to find a good buyer locally which they've now done... but it is a valid and logical question. The reality is that it was never really around ownership, it was a question that was more to do with control and is a matter that is still under court review at this stage. We trust that the new setup is something that the regulators will agree to."

"There is still a process to walk through and that is one of the key approvals to be won from both the (local) Air Service Licensing Council (ASLC) and the International Licensing Council, and then other standard regulators like the Competition Commission." 

For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article