A group of Mexican investors has bought a controlling stake in Mexicana airlines in a bid to save the debt-ridden company, the consortium announced on Saturday.
The group, called Tenedora K, said it acquired a 95 percent stake in Nuevo Grupo Aeronautico SA de CV, the holding company that controls Mexicana de Aviacion — Mexicana’s official name — and the domestic airlines Mexicana Click and Mexicana Link.
The group said the pilots’ union would hold the remaining 5 percent of shares.
PHOTO: AFP
Mexicana officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
The pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions could not be reached.
The deal was announced in a statement from the consortium released by the private equity firm Advent International. Advent helped put together the deal but is not participating in the consortium.
Tenedora K said the acquisition is a “first step” toward restructuring Mexico’s largest airline. It said the process would involve agreements on finances, operations and labor “without which it will not be possible to save the airline.”
The consortium did not say how much it paid for the controlling share or how much it would invest in the airline.
Mexicana executives said earlier this month that the company needed an infusion of at least US$100 million to keep flying.
The airline filed for bankruptcy protection in Mexico and the US on Aug. 2 while seeking to restructure its costs.
It later stopped selling tickets and suspended some flights.
The company reached a deal earlier this month with pilots and flight attendants in which the unions agreed to new contract terms in exchange for a stake in the company.
In court filings, Mexicana said it was badly hit by the swine flu outbreak last year that scared away travelers for months and by the global economic slowdown.
The airline added that high jet fuel prices and labor costs contributed to its financial troubles.
Mexicana flies to more than 65 national and international destinations, including the US, Canada, Central America, South America and Europe.
It transported 11.1 million passengers last year, according to the company’s Web site.
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