Cash shell firm plans reverse takeover of Romania’s Blue Air

Romanian budget carrier Blue Air appears set to undergo a reverse takeover by an entity called Ridgecrest, following a preliminary agreement to acquire the carrier’s parent Airline Invest. Airline Invest, which is owned by entrepreneur Cristian Rada and his brother, wholly-owns Blue Air Aviation and Blue Air Technic. Ridgecrest has entered a non-binding heads of agreement which it intends to evolve into a legally-binding share-purchase deal. It says the proposed transaction will be “satisfied entirely” by issuing just over 9 billion new shares in the company to Cristian Rada and his brother, following which Ridgecrest would change its name to Blue Air Group. Bucharest-based Blue Air launched operations towards the end of 2004 and has built a fleet of around 20 Boeing 737s, operating multiple variants from the older 737-500 to the -800 and the new 737 Max.<br/>