The South African Government has finalised the timetable for the partial privatisation of South African Airways (SAA), with the carrier due to be corporatised by the end of March. An airline investor will be chosen by late June.
Public enterprise minister Stella Sigcau says potential equity partners will be sent information memoranda by 1 April, with non-binding offers to be submitted by 16 April. A shortlist of companies bidding for a stake of up to 30% in the airline will be drawn up by 23 April.
Applicants will then be able to conduct due diligence of SAA until 20 May, with all binding offers to be submitted by the end of that month. Final negotiations will take place from 7-18 June, with the identity of the successful bidder to be revealed soon after.
Meanwhile, SAA has revealed that it expects to make an operating profit of R50 million ($8 million) for the current quarter after taking a loss of R82 million for the same three months last year.
Source: Flight International