Romania’s Blue Air eyes London, Bucharest market listings

Oana Petrescu, chief executive of Blue Air (Romania) (0B, Bucharest Otopeni), has confirmed plans revealed this week to list on the London Stock Exchange though a reverse takeover, telling Ziarul Financiar and Economica.net that the listing will take place at the beginning of 2022 and that the carrier we will return to profit in the same year.

Ridgecrest, a British cash shell company, announced on July 6 that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent with Cristian Rada, to buy his company Airline Invest and its subsidiaries Blue Air Aviation and Blue Air Technic. Following a share issue to Rada, Ridgecrest’s name would change to Blue Air Group plc.

It is an opportunity to be listed in London faster than going through the lengthy conventional listing process.

“The listing will take place at the start of next year. So we have six months to solve all the conditionalities and the due-diligence process and to attract some pre-IPO funds,” Petrescu told Economica.net.

At the end of 2022, Blue Air will also enter the Bucharest Stock Exchange by issuing bonds, she added.

“Due to the pandemic, the level of flight demand, at least from January to May, was very low, it was less than 20% of the level in 2019, so we want to consolidate before and after the bond issue,” she said. “In 2021 we’ve managed to stabilise things, and in 2022 we will return to profit.”

Asked if investors have an appetite for airlines, Petrescu answered in the affirmative adding that she was sure the low-cost segment would recover faster than for full-service carriers.

“Yes, we see great interest, it is one of the sectors that has been hardest hit by the pandemic but it will recover the fastest. We believe that low-costs in particular will recover very quickly, because they are not based on corporate traffic but on people who work and go on holiday. This type of tourism will increase very quickly, we see it already this summer,” she said.