Fusiones y Adquisiciones

✈ Finnair canceled 300 flights due to pilot strikes on December 9 and 13, affecting over 30,000 customers. The airline, which is recovering from a major business model shift prior to 2023, formerly relied on transporting travelers across Siberian airspace to the Far East via Helsinki as a hub. The closure of Russian airspace has forced reroutes through Iran, but Finnair has successfully undergone a radical austerity program and route reinvention. Pilots now seek better salary conditions after previously accepting limited terms.

🏠 Platinum Estates received final approval for the Las Dunas Club project in Marbella, a luxury resort with a €350 million investment. Initially planned as a W Hotels, it will now be a St. Regis or The Ritz-Carlton. The project, delayed for 8 years, includes a 5-star hotel with 186 rooms and 180 branded residences. Construction is expected to take 36 months, targeting a 2028 opening. The investment increased from the original €300 million due to construction cost changes and the brand upgrade.

🚀 A Boeing 737 operated by Spanish airline Swiftair for DHL crashed near Vilnius Airport, Lithuania, during landing approach. Departing from Leipzig, Germany, at 03:00 local time (02:00 GMT), the crash occurred 1.5 hours later, as reported by Flightradar24. Rescue services found one casualty and transported three survivors, including the pilot, to the hospital. The plane hit a two-story building; however, the 12 occupants were unharmed. Possible crash causes include human or technical failure, and terrorism hasn't been ruled out due to GPS signal jamming in the region. Swiftair's largest disaster involved an MD83 crash in Mali, claiming 116 passengers and 6 Spanish crew members due to ice formation on the aircraft.

✈ Estonian government has let its public airline, Nordica, and its subsidiary Xfly go bankrupt, affecting 579 employees with immediate job loss. The Nordic Aviation Group, led by Director General Remco Althuis, announced the unceremonious decision to sell assets and pay creditors. Nordica, established in 2015, failed to compete with Air Baltic and sought sale post-COVID-19 pandemic. Negotiations with Danish businessman Lars Thuesen, owning 20% of Air Baltic, ended in failure this week, prompting dissolution.

✈ Lufthansa will proceed with the purchase of ITA despite the crisis between the Italian government, ITA's majority shareholder, and Lufthansa, the 41% owner and airline manager. Conflicts arise from differing priorities: Lufthansa seeks profitability for investors, while the Italian government aims to win the upcoming elections. The coexistence of these two cultures in the same capital creates trust issues. In Portugal, TAP airline is for sale, but parliamentary opposition seeks to maintain control for electoral reasons, affecting the airline's operations.

📅 Ávoris, owned by Barceló, is in talks with CDV, led by Juanfran Trasmonte since 2015, for a potential merger of their consolidators to become Spain's market leader. The merger could result in a giant with over €230 million in air consolidation business. CDV expects an Ebitda above €700,000 in 2024. Ávoris recently launched Welcomefly, post-integrating Geoclick (Geomoon) from Globalia's travel division in 2022, and owns Travelgea Tours and Vista Travel.

💰 Ávoris, set to acquire Dit Gestión pending approval from the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), would reach over 3,100 sales points by adding Dit Gestión's 800+ agencies to its existing 2,300. The deal's success hinges on maintaining the independence of Dit Gestión's agencies, which can still market any supplier's products. Approval is optimistically expected before year-end. This move follows Ávoris's acquisition of Gea, with its 500 offices.

🏠 Nordeste Properties invested €5.17 million in a historical building in Granada, acquiring 27 tourist apartments managed by Numa Stays. The building, built in 1900 and renovated in 2019, was bought from Persépolis Investments I and marks Nordeste's first foray into the tourist apartment market. The acquisition, financed entirely with own funds, houses the Numa Granada Vega complex and aligns with the company's asset diversification strategy, announced on August 16, 2023.

✈️ Air Europa's shareholders' meeting on Wednesday decided on a capital increase of 81 million euros to be completed before the year's end. Globalia will cover 80% of the injection, with IAG's 20% contribution still pending. IAG, in competition with Air Europa on some routes, is considering its participation as a financial stakeholder. Due to the pandemic, Air Europa must rebalance its equity to avoid bankruptcy following a government moratorium extension and is looking for new partners starting January, with prior interest from Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.

✈ Spirit Airlines, facing a severe financial crisis, is closing routes and selling aircraft. The U.S. low-cost carrier's stock plummeted by 55% on Wednesday. After a failed merger with Frontier Airlines due to a better offer from JetBlue—which was later blocked by U.S. competition authorities—Spirit is now renegotiating terms with creditors. The airline plans to cut $80 million in expenses annually, starting next year, by discontinuing routes and returning or selling planes. Despite these struggles, bankruptcy under Chapter 11 allows Spirit to continue operating while seeking solutions.