LONDON (ShareCast) - Hangar 8, an operator of privately owned jet aircraft, on Monday acquired Gama Aviation Holdings by means of a reverse take-over and a share placement.
Broker Cantor Fitzgerald was to be in charge of a cash-call aiming to raise £17.15m to finance the purchase of the latter of the two outfits, whose focus was on air and ground operations.

Another £5.8m was to be raised via a placing on behalf of Dustin Dryden, the boss of Hangar 8, and certain Gama Aviation vendors.

The transaction valued Gama Aviation at £82.3m. Once merged, the combined company was to trade under the ticker GMAA and be re-named as Gama Aviation Plc. The AIM-listed company was expected to have a market capitalisation of £120.4m upon acceptance to that market.

Management argued that the resulting enterprise would become one of the five largest operators globally, in what they described as a highly-fragmented industry in which scale is increasingly important.

The new firm would have 144 aircraft under management and operate from 44 different locations in 15 countries and spread over five continents.

It would also have "the ability to supply a full range of private aviation services across the globe," Hangar 8's chief executive, Dustin Dryden, said.

Shares of Hangar 8 ended the session 4.49% lower at 287.5p, giving it a market capitalisation of £28.68m.

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