Aegean and Air Nostrum bid for Croatia Airlines stake
Greece’s Aegean Airlines and Spain’s Air Nostrum have submitted non-binding bids for the acquisition of Croatia Airlines, local media report. The carrier noted this week that two entities have submitted their offers to the airline’s privatisation advisors, PBZ and DVB, without providing further information. The government has set a deadline to either fully privatise or recapitalise Croatia Airlines by June 2020. According to media reports, the advisors will now analyse the submitted offers and pass them on to the company’s management. An inter-agency committee, set up by the state, will then select the best offer, if it meets their set requirements.
Aegean Airlines expressed initial interest for its fellow Star Alliance member Croatia Airlines back in 2015. The Greek carrier has grown its network in Croatia over the past few years and now maintains services from Athens to Zagreb for the majority of the year, while flights to Dubrovnik have been extended for most of the winter this year. It also runs seasonal operations to Split. On the other hand, Air Nostrum, which is part of the Iberia Regional franchise and a Oneworld alliance affiliate member, has been wet-leasing its aircraft to Croatia Airlines over the summer months for the past three years. Iberia itself has significantly expanded its flight offering to Croatia.
The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, said last month the government plans to sell up to a 70% stake in Croatia Airlines. He added, “Consultants are currently looking into potential strategic partners and will decide on the best possible recapitalisation model by year’s end. Then we will launch a public tender. Based on the government’s decision, we will select a strategic partner by the end of June 2020. The focus is currently on finding an investor from the aviation sector, but we are not insisting on it. Different sales models foresee interest from different types of investors. Interest has certainly been shown”. The government has also mulled the possibility of creating a holding comprised of the airline and state-run airports, which would then be taken over by pension funds or for the airports themselves to recapitalise Croatia Airlines. However, this proposal has not been met with wide approval. Earlier this month the Association for the Management of Pension Funds said it is interested in the takeover of a potential holding company. On the other hand, Split Airport noted such a venture would be “too risky”.
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