Aegean Airlines has come to an agreement with Marfin Investment Group to buy Olympic Air in a 100 per cent sale for the total of ?72 million.
p>Aegean Airlines has come to an agreement with Marfin Investment Group to buy Olympic Air in a 100 per cent sale for the total of ?72 million.?
Following completion of the transaction, Olympic Air will become a subsidiary of Aegean Airlines. The brand names and logos of the two companies will be maintained and each will have distinct aircraft and flight staff.
The consideration for 100% of Olympic Air has been set at ?72 mil with payment in instalments to MIG by Aegean. The current shareholding structure of Aegean will not be affected by the transaction.
Chairman of Aegean Airlines, Theodoros Vassilakis, said the subscale of Aegean ? combined with the effects of the Greek crisis ? restrict the airline?s ability to successfully compete within the European and Global aviation markets, leading to further losses and reductions of size and scope.
He said: ?As a result we are faced with the immediate danger of Greek Tourism, an industry essential for the country?s recovery, becoming entirely dependent on foreign carriers with permanent losses in local employment and state revenues.
?The synergies from this agreement will allow us to reduce unit costs and offer enhanced network coverage with competitive prices to the consumers. We hope that all Greeks will support us in this challenging, ambitious and necessary endeavor.?
The union of administrative, planning, purchasing and commercial functions will lead to considerable economies of scale, in buying power and removal of duplicate systems for Aegean.
The deal is yet to be approved by the Competition Authorities, a process which will also determine the timing of its execution.
