Tag: buyer

Austrian Airlines sells three Boeing 767s to US company MDI

February 27, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Austrian Airlines has found a buyer for the three long-haul aircraft that were up for sale. The Boeing 767-300ER aircraft will go to the U.S. company MonoCoque Diversified Interests. The purchase agreement has already been signed. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The first aircraft, registered OE-LAT, will leave Vienna at the beginning of March for Pinal Airpark, Arizona. The aircraft is currently undergoing all the necessary preparations for the handover. The next transfer flight is scheduled for May with the Boeing 767 registered OE-LAX.

“Being able to sell all three Boeing 767’s to one buyer is very gratifying and a big step for our fleet transition”, says Austrian Airlines CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech. “I would like to thank MonoCoque Diversified Interests for the good negotiations and our team for their great commitment.”

“MDI is excited to continue the growth of its passenger and cargo aviation portfolio with the addition of three 767-300ERs”, adds MDI’s manager Mary Alice Keyes. “It has been a pleasure to work with Austrian Airlines, a group with a long history and outstanding pedigree.”

At an average of 28.5 years, the three 767’s sold are among the oldest aircraft in the Austrian Airlines fleet. The remaining three 767’s are between 20 and 22 years of age. After the completed handover, Austrian Airlines will continue to have nine long-haul jets at its disposal, which will connect Austria with destinations around the globe – from the USA to the Far East. In detail, these are six Boeing 777’s with over 300 seats and three Boeing 767’s with over 200 seats.

Until the beginning of 2022, 28 aircraft will leave the fleet of Austria’s home carrier: In addition to the aforementioned three Boeing 767-300ER’s, 18 Dash turboprops and seven Airbus A319 jets will be handed over. Ten turboprops have already left Vienna, with the remaining eight to follow soon. This means that the fleet will consist of around 60 aircraft by the beginning of 2022. As mainly smaller aircraft will be retired, this corresponds to a capacity reduction of around 20 percent.

China’s HNA Steps Up Efforts to Sell Swissport at Big Discount

February 5, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON/FRANKFURT, Feb 5 (Reuters) – China’s HNA Group is resuming efforts to find a buyer for airport luggage handler Swissport despite facing a loss of several hundred million dollars on its initial $2.8 billion investment, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Chinese conglomerate has rekindled talks with several heavyweight investment funds as it needs to raise cash to cut its debts, the sources said.

Rothschild is helping HNA identify prospective bidders, who are hoping to buy the Zurich-based business on the cheap after previous attempts to sell it stalled last year, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the process is not public.

U.S. buyout funds Apollo Global Management Inc and Cerberus as well as Canadian asset manager Brookfield have come forward to revisit a possible acquisition of Swissport, the sources said.

Two other U.S. investors – Bain Capital and Centerbridge Partners – are also looking to take part in a new auction, two of the sources said, adding interest from industry buyers had waned.

HNA is hoping to limit its losses and recoup at least $2.3 billion from the sale, one of the sources said.

But offers are expected to value Swissport at about $2 billion, two of the sources said, with one adding Apollo had previously offered $2.1 billion.

This means HNA may need to swallow a loss of more than $500 million to offload the business, which has annual core earnings of about $270 million, they said.

HNA, Apollo, Cerberus, Brookfield and Bain declined to comment, while Centerbridge was not available.

HNA bought Swissport for 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.8 billion) in 2016 in a deal that was meant to complement its sprawling portfolio of investments in aviation, logistics and tourism.

But the Chinese giant had to look into cashing out at the start of 2018 when its liquidity challenges turned it into one of China’s most indebted companies and forced it to quickly sell assets.

The 20-year old company, led by chairman Chen Feng, came under pressure after embarking on an aggressive M&A spree in the United States and Europe with deals worth an overall $50 billion.

It made a push into the travel and tourism industry, buying a 25% stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc in 2016 and then branched out into financial services, becoming the leading investor in Deutsche Bank.

But its M&A binge resulted in cash flow problems, prompting a review of all its business interests overseas.

HNA initially considered a possible listing of Swissport on the Swiss SIX Exchange in 2018, but then opted for an outright sale.

Apollo and Cerberus, which bought Paris-based Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in 2018, were both initial contenders for Swissport, but negotiations stalled after the Swiss company secured a refinancing package in August.

($1 = 0.9727 Swiss francs)

(Reporting By Pamela Barbaglia and Clara Denina in London and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Editing by Mark Potter)

Caesars Entertainment Completes Sale of the Rio to Dreamscape

December 5, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR) (“Caesars” or “Caesars Entertainment”), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers, today announced it has completed the previously announced sale of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino (the “Rio”) to a company (the “Buyer”) affiliated with Dreamscape Companies (“Dreamscape”), which is owned and controlled by Eric Birnbaum, for $516.3 million (including certain fees, expenses and $40 million in seller financing provided by a Caesars affiliate). Dreamscape acquires, repositions and/or develops hospitality, residential, retail, gaming and entertainment assets.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto/Caesars Entertainment Corporation)

In connection with the completion of the sale, a Caesars subsidiary entered into a lease with the Buyer under which Caesars will continue to operate the property for a minimum of two years and pay annualized rent of $45 million. The Buyer has the option to pay Caesars $7 million to extend the lease under similar terms for a third year. At the end of the lease term and at the request of the Buyer, Caesars may continue to manage the Rio or may provide transition services to the Buyer.

The Rio will continue to be part of the Caesars Rewards network during the lease term, and the transaction is not expected to result in any changes to the guest experience. The World Series of Poker will be hosted at the Rio in 2020 and hosting rights will remain with Caesars Entertainment thereafter. Further details on the transaction are available in the Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Emirates’ Clark says Rolls-Royce Needs to Sort Itself Out After Engine Delays

November 23, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The board of Rolls-Royce must urgently address its engine performance problems, the head of Dubai’s Emirates said, as the world’s largest buyer of wide-body jets weighs up who will power its order of Boeing 787 jets.

Emirates agreed to buy its first 787 Dreamliners in a last-minute, $9 billion deal at the Dubai Airshow on Wednesday, without specifying what engine would power it, while reducing its order for the U.S. planemaker’s delayed 777X model.

The 787’s, which can take either Rolls or rival GE Aviation’s GEnx engines, will be delivered to Emirates in 2023, a year later than a tentative purchase plan outlined two years ago.

That gives Rolls-Royce more time to sort out the durability issues in its Trent 1000 engines before Emirates believes a realistic competition can be held.

“Rolls have had a number of wake up calls and they really need to sort themselves out. I think the alarm clock has gone off a number of times,” Emirates President Tim Clark said at the Dubai Airshow.

“If I were on the board, I would be looking to recognise the issues… and deal with them immediately, meaningfully, forcefully and drive change,” he told reporters.

A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce said it was proud that Emirates had chosen to order 50 Airbus A350s, powered by Rolls’ Trent XWB, in a deal announced this week.

“We are confident in the reliability and performance of our engines, and in our commitment to meeting the high standards expected by our customers,” the spokeswoman said.

“(Emirates) is one of the largest operators of our Trent engines in the world, and we are committed to maintaining our strong relationship with them.”

The Rolls-powered version of the 787 has been hit by repeated technical problems, leading to share price pressure and drawing criticism from airlines.

The engine maker’s chief executive Warren East said on Nov. 7 that the company would spend more on parts and replacement engines to reduce the time aircraft are grounded while turbine blades are replaced.

Clark said that the situation at Rolls was “salvageable” if board acted quickly and accepted the issues they were having.

“With the reputation that (Rolls) has for quality engineering and its excellence in the past, they must restore that as the gold standard,” he said.

He said his comments should not be read as a criticism of any individuals including East.

Clark has been a vocal critic of engine makers, saying in September he wouldn’t take new planes unless their engines were ready and said he was “a little bit irritated” by delays at Rolls and GE.

GE powers the 777X, which Emirates cut its order of on Wednesday after Boeing pushed back its entry into service, partly due to issues with its engines.

Clark said engine makers should only offer technology that was mature enough to work reliably in the demanding conditions of the Gulf, adding: “Don’t use (airlines) as guinea pigs”.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, writing by Alistair Smout, Editing by Louise Heavens)

Airbus Signs Amended A400M Deal With Buyer Countries

June 14, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A400M aircraft flies during a display on the first day of the 52nd Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus said on Friday it had signed an agreement with European buyer countries for a revised contract for its delayed A400M military transporter plane.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the parties had reached an agreement on a new contract.

Airbus said the agreement with OCCAR, which represents Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg, included key points such as new capabilities development plan, a new production delivery schedule and new financial terms.

Under the new financial terms, it said the partners agreed on the implementation of a revised financial retention mechanism which is the amount of cash that buyer countries can hold back while waiting for delayed deliveries.

“On the basis of this contract amendment signature, Airbus is fully committed to continue on this positive path and to providing its A400M current and future customers with the most powerful and technologically advanced military transport aircraft available on the market,” said Dirk Hoke, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Defense and Space.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Writing by Bate Felix. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Delta The Likely Buyer of 10 Airbus A330neo Jets

November 14, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) has emerged as the probable buyer for 10 Airbus A330neo jets worth $3 billion, industry sources said, in a boost for the becalmed European model.

Airbus (AIR.PA) announced an order for 10 of the 300-seat aircraft in its latest monthly order update on Friday, but withheld the name of the buyer for the Oct. 30 deal.

Two industry sources, asking not to be named, said Delta (DAL.N) was the buyer. A third said Delta had been looking to expand an existing order for 25 A330neo aircraft.

Airbus declined comment. Delta was not immediately available for comment.

If confirmed, the deal would mark the second order for the slow-selling A330neo in as many weeks after Kuwait Airways ordered eight of the long-haul planes in mid-October.

Airbus is aggressively seeking more orders for the latest version of its profitable A330 franchise after sales of the engine-upgraded A330neo model fell short of expectations in the face of heavy competition from the newer Boeing 787.

However, industry sources have questioned how far recent orders represent net new sales for the European giant, saying they could replace at least some earlier orders for the A350.

The new-generation A350 is a longer-term bet for Airbus and competes with the 787 and Boeing 777. But one market source said Airbus was willing to give up some orders for the newer plane in order to keep the A330neo afloat and prevent production cuts.

Airbus has given cautious signals that it is prepared to be flexible in both directions when offering combinations of the A330 and A350, sources said, though it cannot afford to lose too many orders or customers for the more strategic A350 plane.

The wide-body A330neo is part of a pair of upgraded aircraft – the other being the strong-selling A321neo narrowbody – that strategists say Airbus is trying to push into the market to reduce the space for a new 220-260 seat, mid-sized jet being studied by Boeing. A decision on that project is due next year.

Airbus is especially keen to continue A330-series production because it has been a major source of profits and cash.

Airbus also needs an aircraft like the 250-300 seat A330 to offer airlines a step-up into the wide-body market from its largest narrowbody, the A321neo, which holds up to 240 people.

Without it, Airbus’s smallest wide-body would be the 315-seat A350-900, which leaves a large gap in Airbus’s portfolio above the A321neo for rival Boeing (BA.N) to exploit.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher and Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Laurence Frost and Edmund Blair)