Flamboyant high-flyers bid for SA Express
Two flamboyant personalities are in the running to buy stateowned airline SA Express, now in provisional liquidation.
Bids for the company closed on Friday with offers from Theunis Crous, founder of Fly Modern Ark aircraft leasing company, and Tabz Qadir, founder of Uprise. Africa, a “crowdfunding, private-equity platform” that has teamed up with a group of former employees.
A third party, whose identity is not known to Business Day, has also submitted a final binding offer.
Crous said he made an offer of R100m, and expected that it would take another R200m to R300m to restart the company.
The employee group, which is called Fly SAX, and Uprise. Africa, said they too had made an offer, which they did not disclose. Qadir said the group had an anchor funder.
If its bid was accepted the company would be offered “as an investment opportunity in SA Express to retail investors through a public offering”. The shares would be held through the Uprise. Africa Fund, she said.
The value of SA Express is unclear. While it was valued at R1.8bn before liquidation, liquidators said in June that on inspection assets of only R113m could be identified. Most of the value lies in its aviation licence, which the Civil Aviation Authority has suspended for now until a buyer is finalised.
As there is not likely to be significant value in the fleet, most of which was grounded, a buyer would probably scrap it.
Crous has made headlines through his association with several glamorous young women, including celebrity Khanyi Mbau. He and his present wife, Primrose, together with Cerebus Capital Management in 2018 made a R21bn loan offer for SAA, which was not accepted.
Also in 2018, he was acquitted of submitting fraudulent VAT returns but he was fined for contravening the VAT act.
The Fly Modern Ark website says the company is “100% SA black woman owned”.
Qadir was joint chair and joint owner of Skywise Airlines, which website Travel News reported operated for eight months in 2015 between Johannesburg and Cape Town. It was grounded for failing to pay airport and navigation fees. Pakistani entrepreneur Irfan Pardesi, who was the largest shareholder in Skywise, was also listed as a board member of Uprise. Africa, said the website.
SA Express entered business rescue in February after a court application by a creditor. It was placed in provisional liquidation in April. Its troubles arose from years of mismanagement and corruption, for which noone has been held accountable. SA Express has an unusual history, starting its life in 1994 as an ANC venture, 51% owned by ANC investment vehicle Thebe Investments and 49% by Canadian consortium Lardel Investments. Thebe Investments was then majority owned by the Batho Batho Trust, which now owns only 47.5% of Thebe.
SA Express was later acquired by Transnet, which also owned SAA then. The two state airlines have existed side-by-side since then, despite many commitments from government that it intended to consolidate its airline businesses. —
The Fly Modern Ark website says the company is 100% SA black woman owned