November auction for SA Express assets

SA Express assets will go under the hammer in November after the beleaguered state-owned airline was placed under provisional liquidation earlier this year.

Among the assets available at the November 18 auction are eight Bombardier CRJ200 jet aircraft, which are not in an airworthy condition, jet engines, APUs, rotables and spares for the aircraft, as well as related aviation assets.

GoIndustry DoveBid Africa, a leading asset disposal, valuation and consultancy firm, will be hosting the auction.

It was mandated to perform valuation work, project management and disposal of assets.

The online auction event is a culmination of months of work, which included various processes to engage with interested parties to purchase the airline, with a view of restarting operations.

The expression of interest process finally identified one consortium, FlySax, which will be led by an anchor investor and include a shareholding with previous SA Express staff.

FlySax will not be purchasing any of the movable assets of SA Express, only the company itself which includes routes, landing rights and certain regulatory licenses that have not lapsed.

GoIndustry DoveBid, with the joint provisional liquidators and their legal advisers, are busy finalising agreements with the purchasing entity.

The online auction will be the first event, with a view to hosting a later event that will include the non-aviation assets such as office furniture.

The assets are mostly located at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, which is a restricted national key point.

Interested parties who do not have the necessary permits will therefore not be able to view the assets and will have to make a purchase based on comprehensive descriptions and photos provided.