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Is it possible to take legal action against The Tanzanian authorities, or is the legal system also corrupt?
I hope this helps!
Solenta Aviation Holdings Limited (SAHL) has taken control of fastjet plc after acquiring an additional 24.5% stake in the UK-listed African low-fare airline.
The move comes after fastjet entered into multiple transactions which increased its equity base by at least USD40.0 million following warnings over the past 4 weeks that its weak cash position threatened its viability.
A filing with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday, November 16, said the South Africa-based aviation holding had agreed to subscribe to 316.7 million fastjet shares for a total of USD4.1 million. Solenta’s stake in the company subsequently rose from 29.8% to 54.3% while its voting shares have risen from 29.8% to 60.2%.
fastjet plc also issued 1.9 billion shares valued at USD24.4 million to acquire four E145s from Solenta and to settle other fees and charges due to the firm.
fastjet plc also issued 898.4 million new ordinary shares to raise USD11.5 million. It will also hold an open offer with qualifying shareholders of up to 411,440,871 Open Offer Shares aimed at raising up to USD5.3 million.
As previously reported, fastjet plc will indeed exit its Fastjet Tanzania unit having entered into a conditional share sale agreement with local management in Tanzania, regarding the sale of its interest in Fastjet Tanzania's holding company, fastjet Air TZ (BVI). Following the sale, valued at USD1, the Tanzanian carrier will operate as a fastjet-branded carrier.
As a consequence of fastjet plc's decision to cease funding its Tanzanian operation in September, plans to induct three ATR72-600s have now been abandoned resulting in the company incurring an early termination liability. According to the LSE filing, along with other settlements, the firm will spend up to USD3.7 million to cover major creditor settlements associated with the decision to stop funding Fastjet Tanzania.
In terms of its Fastjet Zimbabwe operations, fastjet plc said it has also moved to exercise its existing option to acquire the 51% stake held by a local Zimbabwean holding and transfer the shares to a Zimbabwean company in consultation with Solenta. In addition, the decision to acquire the four E145s from Solenta will help generate lease savings of around USD220,000 per month in hard currency outflows for its Zimbabwean operations.
"By owning the existing leased assets (as opposed to fixed monthly lease cash outflows), along with utilising the Solenta infrastructure in Mozambique (e.g. no fixed cost), fastjet has flexibility to scale operations down materially in the event of aggressive new competitor market-entry," it said. "Similarly, the four Embraer 145s represent an effective increase in available aircraft capacity (previously three Embraer 145s used in active service and one as backup), which will support the additional route rights received by fastjet Zimbabwe allowing it to operate double-daily frequencies between Harare Int'l and Bulawayo (previous authori
Solenta seem to have a strategy for African airline ownership and have played their hand successfully pre and post FJet takeover. You can't blame them for stepping in to buy out FJet and they will make a success of it. It sad that we have had to take the pain for them to reap the gain.
I am thinking ....... Is it possible for UK nationals to invest in Solenta? Does anyone know the answer?
I supported FJet because I wanted Tanzania to succeeed as a country with a worthy airline, but the incompetence of the Tanzanian government has overwhelmed FJet and the benefits have been lost to the country.
I was thinking of holidaying there and would have spent money there but now I am thinking screw the,m I will spend it in Kenya. I am not bitter but so disappointed with the lack of vision in Tanzania.
Bye the way , buying three ATR aircraft without first getting the route licences was idiotic.
Z-FJE Scrapped 11/2017
Stored 03/2017
Lsd From Icbc ---- It was leased therefore it was not owned by FJET THEREFORE NO CAPITAL LOST.
However it is always a shame to see an aircraft being scrapped even if the real owner will recover and resell engines, components, and parts.
Fjetcrazy, it is good to hear we are only paying retainers on the ATRs until we get the route licences, and that we haven't bought them outright. I believe FJET have said they will be operational In September so they must have trained crews ready and available and on the payroll?
Fjetcrazy, I was querying the logic of getting any aircraft before getting route licences and Kigoma licence was not not issued first time and may not be issued by an authority that is protecting the route for the nationalised airline. We have three ATR ON THE BOOKS AND AS YET NO ROUTES APPROVED as far as I know. Asssts sitting around is never good practice.
Nico apparently said in an interview "A) The ATR’s are a key addition to our fleet as it allows for the operation of routes that are not suitable for jet aircraft. The aircraft will be deployed in Tanzania, we have just received approval on registration of the fleet, and presently engaging with the relevant regulatory bodies to acquire relevant route rights."
With Kigoma route licence denied by Tanzania authorities and bearing this in mind why do we invest in aircraft months before we apply for a route licence. Surely this is the wrong way round and hugely risky. Is there a plan B if these Tan domestic route licences are denied?
Who is Jerry Hass?
We're do you get your apparent insightful information from, FJetcrazy?
Are you an aviation worker in Tanzania?
Who is Jerry Hass?
We're do you get your apparent insightful information from, FJetcrazy?
Are you an aviation worker in Tanzania?
Correction: cock up not cockpit.
You are absolutely right PMJINVEST. Nico has made a major cockpit and then covered it up with these 3 ATRs.
There is no hope of flying them in Tanzania, as the government won't allow it. Same goes for Zambia and Uganda. South Africa is out too as finding a local partner is not going to happen soon. Flying them in Zimbabwe is possible but is the point if you cannot recover earnings. Mozambique seems the only possibility, but there is no mention of that.
Best option is to sell them and do nothing but build load factor on the routes we have with the aircraft we have. No options e it's except slow steady growth. This airline if it survives will take a decade to achieve meaniful stature.
Slow to approve everything, protecting the interests of national carriers or the prospect of national carriers, their foriegn currency controls don't allow revenues earned to be repatriated to pay fuel, spares etc. FJet U.K. $ bank account was being emptied to pay for set-up and operating costs and revenues were stuck in African currenciy bank accounts. In 2013 I gambled Fly540 was a good deal it turned out to be a con jod that we fell for. I gambled Africa would change its attitude. It didn't. I have lost a packet and have been burnt badly. Thank goodness EasyJet, Ryanair and Dart Group have paid off handsomely.
The real problems is that management's hands are tied and always have been. African governments either protect their national carriers or they are hamstrung by foriegn exchange restrictions and so refuse FJet repatriation of foreign currency earnings out of the country it has been earned in. FJet's only hope it can stay solvent until the las test crop of ,emerging nationtional carriers go bust as they surely will.
The RNS in April said the ATRs would be deployed in June 2018.
It is May and growth appears to me to be stagnant. Can anyone enlighten me?
Methuselah, As I understand it monies earned in a country's local currency stays in the country and connot be converted to USD, EUROS etc. and therefore cannot always be send abroad to pay for e.g. spares or to be sent back to UK banks. It all depends a on the local treasuary stance on their monetary controls. It can sometimes be a relaxed policy or can delay and frustrate exchange for months or years. This can result in FJet mot being able to buy and pay for spares in a timely way. More generally you can often observe plant and machinery in other industries falling into disrepair due to problems of buying spares from abroad and being able to pay for them.
Getting profits out of Zimbabwe is not going to be easy either in the short term or the long term. Indeed getting monies repatriated from most African countries is never easy. I remember both BCAL and Virgin Nigeria gave up in the end and stopped operating there. Maybe the answer is to use the Zimbabwean cash to grow operations out of that country, but even that could be problematic as sooner or later spares, maintenance and fuel need to be paid for in foreign currency and may not be allowed by the treasury! Let us hope the new regime is more open to the benefits that modern transport can bring to the economy.
Fastjet Group is set to add a trio of ATR72-600s following a disclosure that it intends to fund their induction through a USD12 million loan from equity partner, Solenta Aviation Group. The aircraft, known to be msn 1047 and 1060 (leased from Azul Linhas A�reas Brasileiras) and msn 1072 (leased from ATR Leasing), are part of a Letter of Intent (LOI), signed with ABRIC Leasing Limited, in September last year, wherein the Tanzania-based low-fare airline would secure the turboprops on a 10-year operating lease, with the option of acquiring them. Under the LOI, Fastjet is due to pay ABRIC's parent firm, ACIA Aero Capital Group of Companies (ACIA), an option deposit of approximately USD11 million to acquire the economic rights to the aircraft. The Avions de Transport R�gional turboprops will allow Fastjet to access runways and markets previously inaccessible due to its historic jet-only fleet, whilst also complimenting existing aircraft types in between the 50- and 100- seater gauge sizes. Among the markets where they may be deployed include South Africa (via Fastjet South Africa), Tanzania (via Fastjet), Mozambique (via Fastjet Mozambique), and possibly Zimbabwe (via Fastjet Zimbabwe). "We are excited by the expected entry-into-service of turboprop aircraft during June 2018," Fastjet CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said. "This aircraft type serves a particular purpose in that certain short-haul routes with shorter runways now become accessible to Fastjet, whilst the fuel-efficient nature of the aircraft will stand us in good stead in an environment where fuel prices have shown an upward trend." As such, Fastjet said in a London Stock Exchange filing that it had entered into a USD12 million loan facility agreement with Solenta to fund the option deposit as well as to provide general working capital. Among the securities Fastjet has put down for the loan include the Fastjet trademarks, its shares in Fastjet Zimbabwe (FN, Harare Int'l), the shares to be acquired by the group in Federal Air (7V, Durban Virginia) (if and when acquired), and the economic rights of the group to be acquired in the three ATRs. The security includes a Solenta right to nominate directors to the boards of FedAir and Fastjet Zimbabwe together with an additional director to the board of Fastjet PLC.
LAM - Linhas A�reas de Mo�ambique (TM, Maputo) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Fastjet Mozambique (Maputo) regarding future long-term commercial cooperation between the two parties. A press release said the agreement was signed in Maputo on Tuesday, March 20, and lasts for six years and enters into force immediately. It covers code-share and interline agreements between the two carriers, the development of optimized network synergies, as well as cooperation in other commercial fields including cargo, engineering, and aircraft maintenance. LAM chief executive Ant�nio Pinto said that the �areas of cooperation will not only further strengthen Mozambique�s flag carrier as a regional air-services provider but contribute significantly to initiatives that promote tourism, economic development and trade.� For its part, Fastjet Mozambique was launched in late 2017 and charters two ERJ-145s from technical partner Solenta Aviation Mozambique (Maputo) to run regular flights throughout Mozambique connecting Maputo, Beira, Nampula, and Tete. Its entry into the market was as a result of the Mozambican government's eagerness to improve connectivity throughout the expansive southern African state given LAM's operational woes. As such, this MOU comes as both parties prepare for the entry of Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa) into the domestic Mozambican market, tentatively due next month. Ethiopian has already incorporated a company in the country - Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines Lda - ahead of the launch of flights.