Tanzanian based LCC, fastjet (FN), has secured an additional USD23.5million (GBP15.68million) in funding following an agreement with Bergen Global Opportunity Fund, an institutional investment fund managed by Bergen Asset Management, LLC, a New York asset management firm.
The investment is to be split up into 6 tranches, the first of which will be for GBP2.55million. The second tranche, valued at GBP2.625million, is to be issued within 100 days of the first. Each of the four subsequent GBP2.625million tranches will be issued every 60 days after the date of issuance of the previous one.
fastjet's CEO, Ed Winter said:
"This agreement with Bergen gives us access to very significant funding over the next year on a flexible basis and will provide us with a solid platform on which to grow the business and expand our operations in Africa.
The investment structure potentially reduces the dilution to existing shareholders and gives us the opportunity to restructure parts of the business and adapt our business model in the light of our experience so far in Africa."
Source [fastjet]
Since the outset, fastjet has been hampered by various creditors linked to predecessor fly540 Tanzania, demanding payments.
Meanwhile, news out of South Africa is that fastjet's negotiations with failed South African LCC 1Time (T6) are dragging on, with a new provisional liquidation date of 2 October being set.
According to TourismUpdate, the South African Department of Transport is "considering" fastjet’s application to acquire 1Time, with fastjet having now submitted an amendment to its application that dealt with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) component of the company.
Minister of Transport, Ben Martins, has yet to make a decision on whether or not to grant fastjet an exemption to a South African law that limits foreign ownership of a local airline to 25%, a move that has vehement objections from industry players, South African Airways (SA) and Comair Ltd.