South Africa seeks $400m for stake in state airline

South Africa is looking to raise about $400m from the sale of a stake in its bankrupt national airline, according to people familiar with the situation, a plan likely to lower the chances of finding a partner to aid its revival. The funds would be used to re-capitalize the reformed SAA, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public. The government is banking on SAA attracting interest because it holds some lucrative routes and valuable landing slots, such as at London’s Heathrow Airport, they said. The Treasury referred questions to the Department of Public Enterprises, which didn’t respond to requests for comment. South Africa’s search for a buyer of equity in SAA comes at a time when the aviation industry is mired in the biggest crisis in its history, having been laid low by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Ethiopian Airlines Group has said it would consider a deal for SAA, CEO Tewolde GebreMariam has made clear he’s not interested in investing capital. Ethiopian is still interested in SAA “but the process is slow as it is complex,” the CEO said in a response to queries last week. The South African government is also in talks with Fairfax Africa Holdings Corp. about buying a stake in the airline, the Financial Mail reported on Thursday, without saying how it got the information. <br/>