Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) has hired Bain & Company, a US-based management consulting firm, to advise it on a possible acquisition of struggling rival, UTair (UT, Khanty-Mansiysk). Listing anonymous government and airline sources, Russia's Kommersant daily said UTair executives had sent a proposal to Aeroflot's board basing it on UTair's current financial situation.
Given UTair's USD3billion in debts owed to among others, Bank Rossiya, and given that its cornerstone routes are viewed as non-essential to Aeroflot's core business, it is believed Bain & Co's recommendation will be used as a basis for Aeroflot's rationalized refusal of the offer.
While neither Aeroflot nor Bain & Company chose to comment on the report, UTair denied it outright claiming no such proposal had ever been proffered.
Using a fleet of approximately 500 aircraft, UTair Aviation and its subsidiaries - Katekavia (Sharypovo), UTair Helicopter Services (UTH, Nefteyugansk), UTair-Cargo (Tyumen Roschino), UTair-Express (Syktyvkar), UTair-Ukraine (Kyiv Boryspil) and Vostok Airlines (Khabarovsk Novy) - offer passenger and cargo transport flights throughout Russia, the CIS, Central Asia, and Europe. The group also provides helicopter services to Russian oil and gas companies as well as the United Nations.
