Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) has announced the successful completion of its cash tender offer to acquire up to an additional 32% of the outstanding capital stock of Grupo Aeroméxico S.A.B. de C.V. for MXN53.00 (USD2.706) per share.
The carrier said in a statement the offer, which expired on March 10, 2017, was oversubscribed, with Delta acquiring 228 million shares representing 32% of the outstanding shares of Grupo Aeroméxico and 39.8 percent of the shares tendered in the tender offer, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately MXN12.1 billion (USD620 million).
The move came after the Mexican Anti-Monopolies Commission (Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica - COFECE) gave the deal its approval late last week.
As it stands, with the completion of the tender offer, Delta now owns 36.2% of the outstanding shares of Grupo Aeroméxico with options to acquire an additional 12.8% for a total of 49% of the outstanding shares of Grupo Aeroméxico.
“We are pleased to successfully complete the tender offer,” said Ed Bastian, Delta’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is yet another milestone that strengthens the Delta- Aeroméxico relationship as we move toward implementing our Joint Cooperation Agreement (JCA) in the second quarter.”
Insofar as the JCA is concerned, while Aeromexico and Delta's divestiture of eight México City International slots has satisfied COFECE's antitrust remedy, the two must still comply with the terms set out in the corresponding process with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in order for approval to be wholly effective.
