FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- VINCI has just concluded an
agreement with American investment fund Castle Harlan, Inc., the leading US
private equity investment firm, to acquire the airport services group
Worldwide Flight Services.
The transaction was concluded on the basis of a valuation of the company
of 295 million dollars. This amount includes the acquisition of all the
Worldwide shares for approximately 100 million euros and the balance of the
company's debt which is made up primarily of non-recourse financing.
The transaction has been submitted to the U.S. competition authorities and
should be finalized within the next few weeks.
Operating at more than 100 airports in some twenty countries and working
for more than 300 customers (airlines, air freight companies, airports) the
WFS group is the leading American and one of the world's three leading airport
support service companies. Worldwide is expected to generate sales of
approximately 400 million euros in 2001 with a very comprehensive portfolio of
business activities (air freight, ramp services, passenger services,
multi-technology services, etc.).
Worldwide was established on the basis of the airport services division of
American Airlines in 1999 and since then has undergone strong organic and
external growth. Today three-fourths of its sales are accounted for by other
airlines. Its network extends to North America, with operations in particular
at U. S. airports in New York (JFK, LGA, Newark), Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas,
Miami and Toronto and also to Asia (Hong Kong) and Europe (Belgium, Germany,
Italy, Spain, U.K., etc.). In France WFS operates at the airports of Paris
Charles de Gaulle, Orly, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Nantes.
The acquisition of Worldwide comes after VINCI acquired a 14.9 % interest
in British airport operator TBI and then made a tender offer for all of that
company's shares.
This move is part of VINCI's strategy of becoming a world player combining
the capabilities of an operator and a service provider in the airport sector.
This sector has strong prospects for growth, diversified sources of revenue,
recurrent income and major synergies with the Group's other business lines.
Vinci's airport activities prior to the acquisition of Worldwide:
Apart from WFS, the existing VINCI airport portfolio is made up of
26 airports under concession (Mexico, Cambodia, China and Belgium) and of SEN,
a French company which has net sales of some 100 million euros and holds
significant positions at the Paris airports of Paris Charles De Gaulle, Orly
and Le Bourget.
Airport services:
-- air freight: goods management and organization of operating flows,
freight forwarding and customs clearance, operation and management of
warehouses
-- ramp services: baggage management, passenger access to planes, ground
guidance and positioning of aircraft on runways, cleaning and
preparation of planes, de-icing, ground heating and air-conditioning,
fueling
-- passenger services: check-in and boarding of passengers, personal
assistance, VIP lounges, security
-- multi-technology support for airport equipment: baggage conveyors,
passenger boarding bridges, information technology equipment, etc.
For additional information on Worldwide or Vinci, you may access their
websites at either:
http://www.worldwideflight.com
or
http://www.vinci.com
SOURCE Worldwide Flight Services, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.vinci.com
http://www.worldwideflight.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/132179.html
CONTACT:
Tyra Jordan, Director of Marketing of
Worldwide Flight Services, Inc., +1-817-665-3313, or fax,
+1-817-665-3279, or tjordan@worldwideflight.com
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