MNG Airlines to be listed on the NYSE

Turkish freighter operator MNG Airlines is to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) via an agreement with Golden Falcon Acquisition Corp in a transaction expected to have a pro-forma enterprise value of $676m.

The Istanbul-based carrier has over 15,000 corporate customers across 41 countries with more than 3,500 flights per year. On its website MNG says that it has a fleet of Airbus A300-600F, A330-300F and A330- 200F aircraft.

In September this year German conversion house EFW delivered a second A330P2F to MNG Airlines.

The carrier offers charter services with customised plane and capacity options in addition to scheduled flights and aircraft, maintenance, crew and insurance (ACMI) services.

For the three months ended September 30 2022, the airline’s revenue grew by 47% year-on-year to $90m, with net income of $26m and adjusted EBITDA of $27m (30% margin).

MNG’s e-commerce revenue grew to $82m in the last twelve months ended 30 September 2022, from zero in 2020.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, after which MNG Airlines will be listed on the NYSE under the new ticker symbol MNGA. Golden Falcon is a special purpose acquisition company, also listed in New York.

Ali Sedat Özkazanc, chief executive of MNGA, commented: “We see significant value creation potential from becoming a publicly listed company in the US, with the expectation that it will enable transformative commercial agreements, create an acquisition currency, and align management incentives with shareholders.”

Murathan Gunal, chairman of MNGA and chief executive of parent MAPA Group, added: “Today, MNGA is an international company with a global presence including multinational corporate clients in the US, Europe and Asia.

“In the year that we celebrate 25 years of operational excellence, listing on the NYSE feels like a natural next step in our company’s history. We’re excited about delivering on the anticipated value creation opportunity ahead.”

Makram Azar, chief executive of Golden Falcon, commented: “We screened over 500 companies and conducted in-depth due diligence on many companies and our process resulted in identifying a company that offers the market a differentiated, high-quality business.

“We believe MNGA is an exceptional opportunity among DeSPAC* business combinations, with a strong growth profile, profitability, cash flow generation, and priced at what we believe is the lowest EBITDA multiple of any business combination closed to date in 2022, which is why we believe it is such a compelling investment opportunity.”

Scott Freidheim, chairman of Golden Falcon, added: “At our initial public offering in December 2020, we communicated to investors that we intended to bring to them an established company in the Europe, Middle East and Israel region with a compelling track record, cash flow-generation, a clear transatlantic expansion nexus, a strong growth profile, and benefitting from secular market tailwinds.

“We’re delighted to bring this differentiated investment opportunity to our investors as we believe MNGA meets the attributes we laid out as key business combination criteria.”

*De-SPAC: a transaction between a Special Acquisition Purpose Company and a target private business.