South African carrier Solenta has become a 28% shareholder in African budget airline Fastjet. In addition, some $28.8 million has been raised through a share placement. Fastjet has said it will buy a special purpose vehicle (SPV) held within the Solenta group by issuing nearly 95.6 million shares.
Fastjet's Interim Chairman and CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout (pictured), was quoted by CH-Aviation as saying:
"Our agreement with Solenta represents a good operational and strategic fit. It provides fastjet with access to fleet and related services which, together with the funds raised through our proposed Placing, will allow us to successfully implement the final stages of our Stabilisation Plan. We have made good progress with the Plan and the near-term priority continues to be to fully stabilise the business and to reach cash flow break even by the fourth quarter of this year."
Fastjet says it will use the proceeds for working capital purposes. This will allow it to implement new revenue-generating measures and reach cash flow break-even by the fourth quarter of 2017.
