Baltia Air Lines, Inc. has announced that its proposed acquisition of Songbird Airways from its owner, AerLine Holdings LLC, has been called off.
In an SEC filing, the start-up carrier, also known as USGlobal Airways, said AerLine had sent a letter on November 22 informing Baltia that it had terminated the agreement as a result of Baltia’s failure to proceed with the closing as scheduled.
Under the original plan, Baltia was to have acquired Songbird Airways, along with its entire share capital, operating licences and certificates, from AerLine for USD6.5 million. The deal was to have closed by October 31.
As such, with the purchase's collapse, Baltia has also lost a USD1 million good-faith deposit paid to AerLine on September 1, 2017. A B737-400, N417XA (msn 25417), that was to have been leased to Baltia post-transaction, is now being offered for sale or lease by AerSale (United States of America).
In a follow-up statement to shareholders, Baltia Chairman Anthony Koulouris said the board had decided to withdraw from the AerLine deal given their own reservations about its longterm benefit to the company. He also alluded to there being other options, similar to those with Songbird, that were available to Baltia.
"With your interests at heart, and so much at stake, we will not take any action if we are not 100% confident it is best for the company and for you. It is this frame of mind that motivated our decision to pursue an alternative to Songbird," he said. "Our Board of Directors met yesterday and unanimously decided to move forward with our revised approach. Due to the confidentiality of the relevant parties, we cannot go into more detail at this time."
