The pending sale of a 51% shareholding in South African Airways (SAA) to the Takatso Consortium, comprising Harith Management Partners (HMP) and Global Aviation, has set off a storm of controversy and conspiracy theories.
The Takatso Consortium has raised R3 billion to help get SAA back into the skies again.
SAA was placed under voluntary business rescue in December 2019 and this was wrapped up in April 2021.
The business rescue partners (BRP) informed the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) that liabilities and claims were reduced by R35.7 billion by current creditors and lessors. The BRP also mentioned that SAA’s workforce has been reduced from 4 700 employees to 1 000 employees.
In a telephonic discussion between Moneyweb and Gidon Novick on June 15, Novick confirmed that he and his aviation team indeed had a discussion with the DPE in 2020 and that he had brought up recommendations about SAA’s future.
Moneyweb reported that the sale of SAA shares is not anything new as the airline was held by Transnet in the 1990s, then in June 1999 sold 20% of its shares to Swissair for R1.4 billion.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan who is the current shareholder representative for SAA announced that the two new investors will hold a majority of 51% of the SAA shares, while the government will hold a minority of 49%.
Business Maverick highlighted that the announcement made by Gordhan is a step-change in the right direction for SAA, especially since it has been state-owned since its launch 87 years ago.
PICTURE: Twitter
