Swissport International has signed an agreement to buy Air BP’s share in Aviation Fuel Services (AFS).
The Swiss-based provider of ground and cargo handling services is taking over Air BP’s 50% stake in AFC (the AFS holding company) and its 33.3% direct stake in AFS, as well as all AFC and AFS subsidiaries/associates.
AFS is the largest provider of into-plane-fuelling services in Germany with operations at 10 German as well as two Austrian airports.
News of the AFS deal comes as industry speculation mounts that China’s HNA Group is about to launch a takeover of Swissport, according to reports from the Bloomberg news agency.
The AFS acquisition is subject to approval by German and Austrian competition authorities. Upon competition clearance, Swissport will own a majority stake of 66.6% (through direct and indirect shareholding) of AFS and assume operational and financial control of the business in close cooperation with the co-shareholder DLH Fuel Company, a 100% subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa.
Philipp Joeinig, executive vice president Europe West, Central & East at Swissport International, said: “The acquisition of the majority stake in AFS gives us the ideal platform to further expand our into-plane-fuelling services and to capitalise from the ongoing liberalisation of the European into-plane-fuelling market."
Picture: Left to right: Philipp Joeinig, executive vice president Europe west, central & east, Swissport International, Jan Hüttmann, legal counsel, BP Europe SE, Alexander Junge, managing director, AIR BP Northern Europe.
