3i Buying Flybe
The Sunday Times - Business
May 22, 2005
3i enters talks to buy a ticket on FlyBE
THE 3i venture-capital group, which previously owned the budget airline Go, is in talks to buy a minority stake in FlyBE in a deal that would value the Birmingham-based low-cost airline at £120m, writes Matthew Goodman.
3i is believed to be one of a small number of private-equity groups negotiating to invest in the airline, which is controlled by the family trust of Jack Walker, the late owner of Blackburn Rovers football club and former steel tycoon.
The other venture capitalists in the running for the deal are thought to include Barclays Private Equity, which also once invested in Go, and Exponent, whose founders worked on Go while they were at 3i.
The Walker family trust wants to sell a stake in the airline to a private-equity group as a precursor to a flotation, which is likely to take place in the next 18 months.
FlyBE operates more than 30 routes to European destinations, including Spain, Portugal and Italy. Jim French, FlyBE’s chief executive, said earlier this year that the airline would make an operating profit of about £10m in the year to March 31.