Interjet could consider selling up to a 49% company stake to a US or Europe-based strategic partner, subsequent IPO
Interjet, a Mexico-based passenger airline, could consider selling up to a 49% company stake to a US or Europe-based strategic partner and subsequently conducting an IPO, according to a CNNExpansion video interview of Interjet President Miguel Aleman Magnani.
Interjet is open to inviting a US or European partner to acquire a company stake, but has not identified any specific investor, Aleman was cited as saying in the Spanish-language interview.
Aleman acknowledged United Airlines and American Airlines have been mentioned as potential Interjet investors and that there may be one or two additional potential suitors in Europe. Aleman noted Interjet has also signed confidentiality agreements with additional companies the executive said he was not permitted to identify.
The company would prefer to first take on a strategic partner before conducting an IPO, but could proceed to list its shares on a securities exchange without a partnership investment in the event such an investment failed to materialize, Aleman added.
Aleman was cited in a 27 October newswire report as saying Interjet plans to form a partnership with a foreign peer and is in talks with American and United.
Interjet will begin to operate routes connecting Toronto and Vancouver with Mexico City in 2017, later adding additional Mexican cities Guadalajara and Cancun, and plans to roughly double its current fleet of 90 planes by 2018, Aleman was cited as saying.