German logistics company Zeitfracht Group has divested its 10% stake in Blue Air (Romania) (BLA, Bucharest Henri Coanda), selling it to the majority shareholder, Romanian investor Teodor Cristian Rada, the business news site Profit.ro reported.
Rada subsequently shifted the shares to Airline Invest, a Bucharest-based company established in December 2019 in which he holds 99.9% of the shares.
Blue Air had already been, since 2018, Zeitfracht's strategic partner in the German market, where it operates to Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg Helmut Schmidt, Munich, and Stuttgart Manfred Rommel. It completed its acquisition of the 10% stake in February 2019 and in May installed a representative on the board.
Blue Air told Profit that the German group now wanted to focus on its B2B cargo and logistics business.
“Since the beginning of the collaboration, we have sought to identify additional synergies to expand the partnership. At the end of last year, following Zeitfracht's strategic decision to focus on business and cargo ACMI, and given the financial consolidation at Blue Air, the two companies decided to continue the partnership with separate shareholdings,” a Blue Air representative said.
Last year, the Romanian carrier revealed plans to raise USD55-66 million via a bond issue, which it scheduled for autumn 2020, with a view to having its shares listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in 2023.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, however, the airline laid off 90% of its staff, and in late April the Romanian government approved rescue loans for both it and flag carrier TAROM (RO, Bucharest Henri Coanda). Three weeks ago, it announced a gradual reopening of scheduled routes from the start of July and has commenced an overhaul of its IT infrastructure as part of the resumption process.
Blue Air posted a profit of RON72 million lei (USD16.9 million) after the losses of 2018, despite its turnover declining 6% to RON2.1 billion (USD493 million) in 2019, local media reported.
