Romania’s Blue Air suffers UK listing setback

Blue Air (Romania)’s efforts to go public on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) have suffered a blow after it failed to raise the requisite funds needed to execute a reverse take over (RTO) of LSE-listed shell company Ridgecrest.

“Ridgecrest, an AIM Rule 15 cash shell, has terminated negotiations on its proposed reverse takeover of Blue Air. This is a consequence of Blue Air’s inability to raise the pre-RTO funding that was the principal condition of the non-binding heads of agreement between Ridgecrest and Blue Air’s vendors […],” it said.

On July 6 this year, Ridgecrest said it had agreed to acquire Airline Invest SA and its subsidiaries Blue Air Aviation SA and Blue Air Technic SRL. In return, Ridgecrest would have issued a 95% stake in the enlarged group to Airline Invest SA’s two shareholders, Cristian Rada and his brother. Upon completion, Ridgecrest’s name would then have been changed to Blue Air Group plc.

“The Board of Ridgecrest has concluded that it is in the Company’s shareholders’ best interests to pursue an alternative transaction. The Company anticipates being able to make a further announcement regarding an alternative transaction in the near future,” Ridgecrest added.

Blue Air was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier this year, the Romanian LCC’s chief executive, Oana Petrescu, said that aside from a UK listing, it was also looking to issue bonds via the Bucharest bourse in 2022.