It has been known for some time that Israir is trying to take over the Czech airline Smartwings. The Tel Aviv-based group has now published further details on the announced transaction.

In total, Israir wants to pay around 44 million euros for the Czech airline. However, more than half of the sum is to be used for loans granted to Smartwings by the Unimex Group. The shares were valued at around eight million euros.

The majority of Smartwings is formally owned by the Unimex Group. Behind this is, for example, the Czech entrepreneur Jiří Šimáně, who originally worked in the duty-free shops and hardware stores. He later got into aviation, took a stake in Smartwings and was the key force behind the acquisition of CSA following Korean Air's exit. In the meantime, Czech Airlines has been spun off from the Smartwings group, but the shareholders are largely the same. Šimáně is currently 72 years old.

Smartwings is silent, Israir issues official stock exchange announcements

Smartwings is still covered about the Israir takeover plans. The company wanted to do this a few weeks ago neither deny nor confirm. The potential buyer is much more willing to provide information: He explains, among other things, that the takeover offer includes a 120-day exclusivity and it is also possible that an additional investor could get involved.

As a listed company, Israir has to publish all sorts of things. This also includes the takeover bid for Smartwings. This shows that the value of the Smartwings shares that you want to buy has been valued at around eight million euros. Around 36 million euros are to be used to repay loans granted by the current owners of the Czech carrier during the peak phase of the corona pandemic. Of this, 24 million euros are attributable to the Unimex Group. Unlike other countries, the government of the Czech Republic did not grant its carriers any state aid or loans. At Smartwings, the owners stepped in, publicizing their dissatisfaction in the form of full-page newspaper advertisements.

Israir expects significant cost advantages

Israir also makes no secret of why you want to buy Smartwings. Traffic between Israel and the Czech Republic and Hungary is to be greatly expanded. Cost advantages were also expected from the possible large-scale ACMI deployment of aircraft from the Czech carrier, which maintains branches with its own certificates in Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, among other places. Targeted cooperation, for example in sales, is intended to improve capacity utilization on the scheduled routes of both aviation groups.

Israir considers the fact that the Smartwings Group – as mentioned – has several AOCs in different EU countries to be an advantage. This simplifies the inclusion of new routes that require local certificates. A mini-hub concept would even be conceivable in the future, but Israir first has to buy Smartwings. In the past, the Czech group has repeatedly acted as a wet lease partner on behalf of the Israeli aviation company.