Lift must go for Takatso-SAA deal

The proposed marriage between the Takatso consortium and SAA cannot be consummated until shareholders Gidon Novick and Global Aviation are divorced from the project.

Takatso courtship and breakup

It’s been a courtship of nearly two years and the breakup is expected to accelerate the deal. Last week, the Competition Commission published its recommendation and the Competition Tribunal is expected to rule on the matter in the coming months.

It leaves Takatso without aviation expertise, a condition precedent on the sale of SAA to the consortium. Takatso will then comprise a sole shareholder after Novick and Lift airline parent Global Airways depart.

Harith Investments will be going it alone as the last man standing in Takatso. It also leaves the future consortium in a breach, as there will be no experts retained in its ranks.

ALSO READ: Competition Commission provisionally approves Takatso, SAA deal

Novick resigned as chief executive of Takatso last year but remained a shareholder. He said: “We were approached by public enterprises to acquire a 51% stake in SAA early in 2021, when Lift was already operating.

At the request of public enterprises, we partnered with Harith to form Takatso, our team was responsible for industry expertise as minority shareholders and Harith as majority shareholder were to supply the funding.

ALSO READ: SAA board: ‘New board members have important skills’

“We spent several months putting a deal structure together, as well as building and presenting a sustainable business model for SAA going forward.”

But over the course of 2022 he was kept in the dark. “I was not updated on the progress of the transaction, nor raising of the funding. I resigned from the board of Takatso as I was not able to fulfil my fiduciary responsibility as a director.”

ALSO READ: SAA-Takatso deal: Competition Commission finalises tribunal submission

Capital funding for SAA

He noted that the funding of Takatso, notably the R3 billion it is expected to inject into SAA as working capital, remains a mystery to him.

On the contrary, an upbeat Takatso statement welcomed the commission’s recommendation. The consortium said: “Takatso Aviation notes the commission’s proposed condition for the transaction to be approved subject to its minority shareholders relinquishing their shareholding in Takatso Aviation.”

But Novick said: “We have not agreed to divest from Takatso.” He added that if their skills are no longer required, they would remain as minority shareholders. – news@citizen.co.za