airBaltic (BT, Riga) has hired New York-based consultancy firm Greenhill & Co to seek potential investors, the Latvian Ministry of Transport told public newswire LSM.
"The investment bank is currently presenting our potential investors with our new business plan, Destination 2025," the ministry said.
The Latvian carrier is currently 80%-owned by the Latvian state, although CEO Martin Gauss at many occasions underlined that the government is not interfering in how the carrier is run. The remaining 20% stake is owned by Danish businessman Lars Thuesen.
In 2016, airBaltic hired Lazard Freres to help it find new owners. While the advisors assisted in the sale of the 20% stake initially to Ralf Montag Girmes (later bought by Thuesen), they failed to facilitate a full takeover. In April 2018, the contract with the previous advisors lapsed.
While the state is, in principle, willing to dispose of its majority stake in airBaltic, the ministry refused to produce any specific deadline for the new consultancy firm to find an investor. The carrier itself also said repetitively that finding a new owner was not urgent.
