gategroup to acquire Servair, creating ‘clear world leader’ in inflight catering

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Xavier Rossinyol: “We will operate as one group with global leadership. With this new step we will be able to further accelerate the strategy of efficiencies and growth.”

INTERNATIONAL. HNA-owned gategroup announced today that it is to acquire Air France’s inflight catering unit Servair, creating a “clear world leader” in inflight catering.

The deal, effective 1 January, will result in a new inflight catering-to-retail giant with a presence in 50 countries covering 200 facilities and 39,000 employees, serving more than 300 airline customers.

Besides its catering business, Servair also owns 50% of leading European inflight retail concessionaire Dutyfly Solutions in equal partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail (50%).

dutyfly-solutions-logoDutyfly Solutions operates out of five European airports (Paris CDG and Orly, Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas, Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa), generating a turnover of €51 million last year.

Additionally Servair operates a wide range of airport services, including some airport shops.

The deal accelerates HNA Group’s remarkable rise as an aviation sector giant in recent times.

gategroup Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rossinyol commented: “We warmly welcome Servair and its employees into a partnership that will be highly beneficial for both sides.

“The new group will aim to take advantage of the best competences of both gategroup and Servair and at the same time to have the most global network worldwide to better serve our customer.

“We will operate as one group with global leadership. With this new step we will be able to further accelerate the strategy of efficiencies and growth.”

gategroup said the acquisition supports its Gateway 2020 strategy by strengthening its global presence in an “unmatched” number of locations, boosting its culinary excellence and onboard retail offering, and by expanding into fast-growing markets in Africa and Asia.

Chargement catering sur un avion à Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.
Servair has an extensive international portfolio, including a dominant position in Africa and businesses in the Caribbean (pictured is its operation in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe)

On 30 May 2016, Air France had entered into exclusive discussions with HNA Group for the sale of Servair and the transfer of operational control with a view to creating a world-class leader in inflight catering.

Following the takeover of gategroup by HNA on 22 December 2016, gategroup stepped into the transaction. The inflight services group acquires 50% minus 1 share in Servair for an enterprise value of €237,5 million (on a 50% basis).

The transaction will be solely financed by gategroup, initially through a bridge facility which will be replaced by a capital market transaction envisaged in the first half of 2017.

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HNA Group, headquartered in Haikou on Hainan Island, China, is one of the aviation sector’s fastest-growing, most acquisitional forces
Sales associate Salimata Toure, left, hands a perfume sample to Angele Tabet, a coworker posing as a client, at DFS (Duty Free Shop), Société SEREP, à Leopold Sedar Senghor Airport, Dakar, Senegal, Mercredi 23 Fevrier, 2011.
Servair has some airport retail business, including DFS Société SEREP at Leopold Sedar Senghor Airport in Dakar, Senegal
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