Published on : Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Silver Airways today confirmed that it has secured up to $73 million in additional financing from GB Credit Partners, LLC, the investment management affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group and Crystal Financial LLC. Victory Park Capital (VPC), the Chicago-based investment firm that owns Silver Airways, will maintain full ownership and control of the Company and its board of directors.
“This recapitalization and additional financing from GB Credit Partners and Crystal Financial are tremendous validations of our business model, our operating platform, and our strong value proposition to redefine and represent the best of a new, next generation regional airline,” said Silver Airways President and CEO Dave Pflieger.
“Attracting this additional financing is a testament to the vision and leadership of our owners, Victory Park Capital, our board of directors, and the talent and dedication of the men and women of Silver, including our new leadership team,” the airline’s chief executive added.
“This is very positive news for our Company, our business partners – like Saab AB, GE Engine Services, LLC and Sabre – our loyal guests, and our dedicated team members. A stronger balance sheet means that we will be able to move forward with our exciting plans to finish creating a strong business and operational platform, to acquire more aircraft and grow in strategically competitive markets, to create more jobs, and to better serve our guests. That’s great news for our team members and the many communities that we are privileged to serve,” said Pflieger.
The airline’s chief executive noted that the new capital will be used to lower current financing costs by providing partial repayments of VPC investments and, most significantly, to fund further growth of the airline. “By reducing the cost of our current debt, creating additional funds for seasonal capital needs, and providing up to $25 million in dedicated, additional capital for growth, we will be well positioned to build on our great progress to date and to begin executing our new five-year business strategy,” said Pflieger.
The Fort Lauderdale- based airline was awarded top honors by the industry in early 2013 when it was named the “2013 Regional Airline of the Year” by Air Transport World and later in the year was named one of the Top 10 “Best U.S. Airlines” by Condé Nast Traveler’s readers in its 26th annual 2013 Readers’ Choice Awards.
“I’d like to once again thank our owners at Victory Park Capital, our board of directors, and the great team at Silver for their respective leadership, support, and hard work this past year. It was a year of achieving important milestones for Silver,” noted Pflieger. “In addition to being recognized with top honors by our industry and our guests, we grew our existing fleet of Saab 340B Plus aircraft by almost 30 percent, flawlessly cutover to our own independent Sabre customer reservation system and Internet booking engine, strengthened our network, launched new routes, affirmed our partnership and new codeshare relationship with United Airlines and its award-winning Mileage Plus loyalty program, introduced our guests to a first-ever ‘Silver Airways’ sales and marketing campaign, and added to our existing interline agreements with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines by entering into a new interline agreement with Jet Blue.”
“With this financing and the hard-working Silver Airways team of professionals committed to the long-term success of this airline, I am confident we are poised to soar to even greater heights,” Pflieger added.
Source:- Silver Airways
Tags: Silver Airways
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