Thu, 01 Feb 2024 | BUSINESS SALE
Specialist Aviation Services (SAS), a Gloucestershire company that provided helicopter emergency medical services to a range of UK air ambulance charities, has been acquired out of administration. The company fell into administration on January 31, before administrators completed a pre-pack sale to AIM-listed business aviation specialist Gama Aviation.
Based out of Gloucestershire Airport, SAS provided services for air ambulance charities across Dorset, Surrey, Somerset, Sussex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Essex, London and the East of England. In addition, the company, which supported more than 5,000 critical flights last year, provided fleet management and servicing for private organisations in the UK, as well as in the Middle East, with operations in Bahrain and Kuwait.
However, according to administrators, the company had incurred operating losses over a number of years and had taken “significant steps” to overcome these challenges, such as seeking new funding.
The company first engaged FRP Advisory to run an accelerated M&A process in October, with the priority of securing a solution to maintain its vital air ambulance operations with no disruption. FRP’s Andrew Sheridan and Jonathan Dunn were subsequently appointed as joint administrators and completed the pre-pack sale of the firm, which sees all but two of its 184 staff transfer to Gama Aviation.
Andrew Sheridan commented: “This was a complex transaction, in the heavily regulated aviation sector, and key parties included aircraft financiers, global OEMs, overseas government contracts and of course the air ambulance charities.”
“Without the support of the Civil Aviation Authority who mobilised a senior team and worked at speed this transaction could not have happened and we wish to extend our gratitude to them, as well as to the company’s senior management team."
Sheridan added: “The goal from the outset of our involvement was to ensure that the vital air ambulance operations continued without disruption, which they did. We take great satisfaction in ensuring that lives continued to be saved throughout the process and wish Gama and its newly acquired operations, highly skilled operatives and pilots, every success in the future.”
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