Ansett Aviation Training set for $100m takeover by Bain Capital Credit consortium

The ACCC is examining a $100m takeover of Ansett Aviation Training, the last piece of the former airline, by a consortium linked to Virgin Australia’s US owners.

Flight simulators at Ansett Aviation Training in Melbourne.

The competition watchdog will examine a $100m takeover of Ansett Aviation Training by a consortium including US companies Bain Capital Credit and Bridger Aerospace Group.

Australian private equity firm Arcadia Capital also makes up Aviation Training Parters, which had seen the opportunity to acquire and recapitalise AAT following a difficult two years.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission confirmed it would soon begin a public review of the ATP proposed acquisition of Ansett Aviation Training, a global provider of flight simulator training.

As the only surviving company of the former Ansett Airlines, AAT has centres in Melbourne, Brisbane and Maroochydore, as well as Taiwan and Milan.

Customers include Virgin Australia, Qantas, Rex and Alliance Airlines who make use of flight simulators for aircraft ranging from turboprops to jets.

The purchase is also subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval but the consortium remained confident of closing the deal.

Arcadia Capital co-founder and partner Sam Walker said Ansett Aviation Training was a “high quality business with a significant asset base” that had been negatively affected by the pandemic and demand for aviation over the last two years.

“We’re investing over $100m and that includes a return to the current debt holders and for the purchase of shares for new capital to invest in the business,” Mr Walker said.

“It is opportunistic in the sense the business had run into trouble through an over-levered capital structure and part of our process is to reset that capital structure so the business has plenty of cash to expand and continue serving customers.”

He said Bain Capital Credit was an arm of the US private equity firm “separate” to Bain Capital, the owners of Virgin Australia.

“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is interested in it though because of that headline name of Bain and so they are going to look into it, but we don’t see there’s any competition issues there,” said Mr Walker.

He would not provide a breakdown of the proposed shareholdings of Ansett Aviation Training between consortium members.

It was APT’s plan to maintain the current executive team, including CEO David Garside, Mr Walker said.

Mr Garside said the planned takeover was a “significant milestone for the company and an important next step in the response to the challenges of the pandemic”.

“Due to Covid-related disruptions our business had become over-levered and our assets under-utilised,” said Mr Garside.

“We need further assistance to recover and believe that with the financial and strategic support of ATP we will be well placed to prosper long-term. We welcome the agreement with Aviation Training Partners and will work closely with ATP to implement it.”

Mr Walker said the name Ansett Aviation Training would be retained by ATP, once the acquisition was complete.

“We recognise the critical importance of AAT’s services to the aviation industry and are committed to ensuring the company can continue to provide these services as borders reopen and the aviation industry recovers,” he said.