aflo

...didn't find anything here, so there we go. Would make the 4 segment status run much easier for a lot of people here

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.

[snip]


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.


https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/12...r-croatia.html

LiHS

It would be great for travellers in the region if A3 bought OU and integrated it fully, bringing it up to its standards and practices across the board. It would actually be a fairly sensible acquisition - A3 does very well while based in a highly seasonally affected market and would bring a lot of know-how to hitherto loss-making OU. If they were interested, one can only hope the Croatian government would step back, stop interfering in OU and allow 100% (rather than 70%) of the airline to be sold to A3. I'll only believe it when I see it though - the Croatian government tried to sell OU to LO only 18mo ago, and then nothing happened. And there were several "prospective buyers" in the years before. Fingers crossed.

As the OP mentioned, if the takeover actually happened, the integration of OU into Miles&Bonus would be of the greatest consequence to the netizens of these parts, and would make renewal much easier by expanding available options substantially. ZAG is less deeply embedded in the SE corner of Europe, and it would allow for some more straightforward connecting itineraries.

Romanianflyer

I think it would indeed make actual sense. OU and A3, and certainly Croatia and Greece as a whole, are actually very comparable. Lots of summer traffic, but more meagre traffic out of season.

lhrpete

I would really like to see an A3/OU integration and I think would bring huge advantages to both.

The role of OU has however become to feed LH at FRA and MUC and they don't offer much more year round. Will LH let them go?

A3 on the other hand have resisted becoming a vassel of LH and have built a strong business quite independently.

IME OU also try to stay ahead of the game in terms of service and offering but they are muzzled by LH. It will be interesting.

jetplane86

The larger and more successful A3 becomes, the more difficult they will make requalification requirements for Gold. On the bright side, at least it looks like they are doing well!

Knobbgb

Sorry, but do we really think Aegean are planning to take over Croatia Airlines and merge it into A3? That's not what the article says. It says the Croatian Government are selling up to a 70% stake in the airline - not the whole thing! I don't see them allowing their home-airline to vanish completely. And what would be the benefit for Aegean of a full takeover of a small, loss-making airline? OU are hardly a major competitor who they need to get rid of and if A3 wanted bases in Croatia, they could just locate their own aircraft there now. As far as I can see, OU only own a couple of their aircraft and apart from that, the only assets of value to A3 would be any Heathrow slots they might own. You can bet that even if A3 get a 70% stake, this will have no particular benefit to A3 Golds, except maybe some of the earning rates in M&B will be increased.

DELLAS

If A3 do invest in OU it would be kept totally seperate so as to make sure any risks are not impacting on A3/OA. You would see some FF benefits as a partner airline but whether or not OU would stay in Star Alliance is doubtful.

East_and_West

This makes lots of sense from a balance sheet perspective, given the precarity associated with this investment. Quite consistent with their mentality too, as A3 has so far showed to follow a cautious and rather conservative expansion strategy. Also quite reassuring not only for their shareholders, but also for us A3-frequent flyers!

So do you think that in the event of a takeover it is likely that OU will play for A3 in the Balkans/Eastern Europe the part that OA has been playing for them within Greece in the recent years (that is, fully integrated in A3's network, but not in *A, and set to operate routes not served by other *A carriers)?

lhrpete

Why on earth would A3 take OU out of *A?

Surely they could just operate any flights they wanted to exclude with an OA flight number.

LiHS

Aegean confirmed it's bidding for OU, in case anyone was in doubt they're actually interested.

The relevant part of the article (rest of it is background discussed in the original article at the top of the thread):

DELLAS

From what I heard it is very much to do with the seasonal traffic April - October and the ability to streamline and expand out of Croatian airports to Euro regional airports similar to what A3 have successfully done in Greece. During the Winter you could see some of the fleet doing charters to warmer climates. I doubt we will see any change to what OA does. Its working very well for A3 as it is. Of course a long way to go and A3 may walk away if the deal is not right.

irishguy28

In that sense, they should be looking for a more complementary partner! One with less seasonality, or even increased loads in A3's quiet times!

irishguy28

I can't imagine why A3 would want to pay the "hefty exit fees" that would fall due upon having OU quit the alliance...

LiHS

OU and A3 are obviously not complementary in that sense. It's a case of A3 having shown they have developed knowledge/insight/ability enabling profitable operations in a highly seasonal environment, and might be able to successfully replicate that in a very similar environment in Croatia. I sincerely hope A3 buy OU, and doubly so if they also integrate them into M&B - I travel to the region a few times a year and I've consciously booked several less convenient and/or more expensive itineraries to avoid having to deal with the risk of OU suddenly going under or similar (c.f. last few months of JP).

Xandrios

That would be ideal, however, are there any European airlines that have increased loads during winter only?

For example Transavia handles mostly seasonal (Summer) traffic, but lease a number of their aircrafts to GOL in Latin America every year during winter. This implies that it is very hard/impossible to find any European partner looking for a capacity increase during winter only.