The South African cabinet has decided to buy back the 20% stake in South African Airways (SAA) currently held by the troubled flag carrier Swissair. The deal follows the collapse of the Swiss airline and the merger of part of its operations into sister company Crossair.
The original deal selling the SAA holding gave parent Transnet the first refusal to reacquire the Swissair stake at 85% of the current "fair" value of the shares. Analysts say the price is likely to be between R650 million ($68m) and R800 million, roughly half of the R1.4 billion Swissair paid for it in 1999.
The Transnet board has opted not to immediately resell the shares to a third party or on the open market. A decision on timing for the further privatisation of SAA will be taken after the buyback is concluded in the next couple of weeks.
The share sale is the latest in a string of sell-offs undertaken by Swissair. Earlier this month it sold its 49.9% sale in German charter airline LTU to a German bank for €1 (89p) and has severed its ties with Sabena of Belgium, and AOM, Air Liberte and Air Littoral in France.
Source: Flight International
