Marisa Garcia SAS has announced that it has established an agreement to acquire regional and international carrier Cimber A/S (Sønderborg), for the sum of 35 million DKK ($5.8 Million). The sale is subject to approval from the EU Commission.
Cimber A/S has had a long colorful history in Denmark as an independent carrier, but ran into financial woes not long after the acquisition of a share of bankrupt Danish carrier Sterling Airways in 2008 (Norwegian purchased the other share). Acquisition of Sterling’s assets resulted in the formation of a new airline named Cimber Sterling. On May 3, 2012, Cimber Sterling collapsed from financial pressures, but commenced operations again on May 15, 2012, as a charter and regional carrier under the original name Cimber. SAS has maintained a wet lease agreement with Cimber for aircraft and crew since 2004.
By acquiring Cimber, SAS gains access to competitive regional flights. Cimber will discontinue flying its CRJ200 and ATR72 aircraft, and operate a fleet of 12 CRJ900 aircraft, based in Copenhagen.
The cash value of the acquisition, which will be paid in April 2015, subject to approval from the Competition Authorities, is 20 million DKK.
[…] SAS will wet lease eight new Bombardier CRJ900s from the Dublin-based carrier, with an option on a further six aircraft. SAS already operates twelve regional jet aircraft of this type through its subsidiary, Cimber. […]