South African Airways seeks new investor and listing after aborted deal, chief says

South Africa’s troubled state-owned airline is seeking a new strategic partner to provide fresh capital, after the latest attempt to secure a deal with a private investor collapsed last week. SAA CE John Lamola said that a global “strategic or equity partner” would ideally be followed by a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. He added that the carrier last year made its first profit since 2011. “You can’t have an airline run entirely by the government. The best scenario would be to list SAA on the stock market, in which the South African government would still have a ‘golden share’ to ensure the country’s strategic economic interests are protected,” he said. The government reached an agreement in principle in 2021 to sell a 51 per cent stake to the Takatso Consortium — a private grouping led by pan-African infrastructure company Harith. But the deal unravelled last week after disagreements on price and political opposition to privatisation from within the governing African National Congress. SAA has received R50.7b ($2.7b) in bailouts over the past 16 years and has a history of political interference that has led to much boardroom upheaval. However, unpublished accounts for the year to March 2023, now being audited, show that SAA turned its first profit in more than a decade, Lamola said. “Some will say this is a modest profit but, given where SAA is coming from, I wouldn’t say this is a modest achievement at all.” The carrier wants fresh capital to fund an expansion that would reverse its decline amid the financial troubles of the past decade. Lamola, who has been interim CE since May 2022, said some private ownership was still vital to allow the 90-year-old airline to revive its goal of becoming a “global brand”. A listing would bind the airline to a higher level of accountability, he said. <br/>