Severn Aviation, JAA Certification Bristow Academy formerly Helicopter Adventures Inc - Helicopter Flight Training

OMG:uhoh: That means they will be employing the Dark Menace:)

That's old news!:rolleyes:

I guess it is no great secret that First Reserve really don't have any interest in aviation other than its perceived ability to make money. Unfortunately CHC was purchased before the current financial crisis, so I bet First Reserve are starting to feel a bit of pressure. Have a look around at the other companies they own and see how many of them are turning a profit right now. My guess is probably most have seen a reduction in share price and value over the last 12 months. First Reserve modus operandi is purely as an investment company - turning numbers, and make them bigger, then sell. Zero care for the company, its personnel, or anything else , as long as they can make a profit when they sell, it doesn't matter what they do to it.
Some of the CHC contracts are certainly struggling right now, and probably starting to cost for First Reserve. They will have in their business plan / investment plan a financial point at which they will ditch before it goes any lower, and this will mean selling. Where many companies would ride this out, I doubt any sensible investor would compromise their strategy if they were doing their job properly. I fear CHC will feel the effect of this soon, and we will see the demise of the organisation, and the selling off of business units piecemeal. I would definitely not be surprised if Bristow has their eye on this, and are waiting to capitalize, but it will all boil down to price. Will they want to take on the burden? Maybe they are looking to buy parts of CHC maybe not, but I am pretty sure CHC is about to be broken up, so this could be a strong contender.

Do Bristows have bundles of cash in reserve then? Their share price on the NYSE has more than halved since the summer.

Welcome to the Stock Market....in case you haven't noticed we are in a slight dip in our economy over here.

Price of oil is less than a third of what it was a year ago...

The market has lost about 30% overall in the past year...

Commercial Credit is in the toilet....

and the near future looks a bit gloomy.

Well, they saved enough on the coffee and tea expenses at the Lagos BRC by making the staff pay for each cuppa....they now have the extra funds to invest in acquisitions of new companies.

Rotorfix,

Thanks for the thoughts about CHC. At the end of the day we will be nothing more than we currently are to them, a number. The only good point if you can call it that is the fact that whoever takes over will need people to do the work so most/some of us will get to change shirts and move to the new tent as the circus continues to play on.

I don't know why everyone is so hostile towards First Reserve. They aren't a helicopter company, they have no knowledge of helicopters and their open policy is to strip, lean out, and sell on a more profitable business. Yes, its harsh and I have little time for this asset stripping, profiteering companies, but they make no bones about what they do - They are an investment company, so we can hardly argue about their lack of consideration for staff and helicopter operations.

As to what they'll do now is difficult to say. I guess they will be looking to cut their losses and write off this investment as a disaster - There isn't much positive outlook for the whole industry for the next few years so there is little chance of FR being able to recover much, so they might as well sell off and realize what they can.

As to what Bristow might want .......... I think SAR would make sense. Monopolies and Mergers wouldn't allow Bristow to take on Oil & Gas and I dare say Bristow wouldn't want much of that anyway. UKSAR would give them a slice of business immune from the peaks and troughs of economy and recession, and of course put them back into the running for 2012 SAR Harmonization.

As to my actual guess on this thread, if they are going for something big, my real belief is that its more likely to be British International. Keep Penzance and the Falklands and sell off the Navy contracts which are a bit out of Bristow's comfort zone. Still, whilst there may be investigating potential purchases, it wouldn't surprise me if they just do nothing and batten down the hatches,

First Reserve is solely an energy related company, so there should be little doubt that they fully understand the cycles and challenges of the business.

As for helicopters; well, that remains to be seen. As for employees; well, they are just another resource! :eek:

To this day, the home page of First Reserve Corporation still shows a picture of a Bristow S76 landing on the Anglia A. I think this may reveal much more about the extent of their knowledge of the helicopter industry. ;)

As one who is no longer involved in the discussions above, I see an ever repeating story developing. Over the years that I was involved we went through many worrying times. Some developing from a decreasing oil price or a less than committed owner with the rumor network that developed many scenarios of doom and gloom. In the end we had no control, stuff happened and things muddled along, some stayed on and the last in generally left. The bad times got better and it all looked good again.
The one big change is that now the finance houses are the ones with the say. The old way is gone, the changes will happen whatever they involve and when the time is ripe it will be known in the bizarre and give a chance for further discussion.
Until then keep the thread going, its great reading and gives me a chance to catch a few interesting bits of news.

:cool:

Rien ne change......
 

Quite right, let the good and bad times roll

Bristow have become relatively cash rich by raising money on the NYSE.