Second attempt to rescue UK business class carrier, Silverjet, fails
14 Jun 2008
London: A takeover deal intended to bailout small British business-class airline, Silverjet, collapsed on Friday, making it the second abortive attempt to rescue the failed airline. The collapse of the airline will also result in the loss of 300 jobs, administrators said on Friday.
Announcements earlier in the week had said that Kingplace, an Ireland-based company managed by Heritage Cie SA, a Geneva-based investment firm, had agreed to buy Silverjet for an undisclosed price.
"We now understand that, as a result of the unusually complex negotiations with third parties, Kingplace is no longer in a position to acquire Silverjet as a going concern," administrators Begbies Traynor said in a statement on Friday.
"As a consequence, we have today had to make the entire workforce formally redundant, in line with our legal obligations as administrator."
Silverjet was placed in administration last month after it failed to secure fresh financing from United Arab Emirates investment fund Viceroy Holdings. The proposed takeover by Kingplace was the second attempt to put the business class carrier back in the skies.
Silverjet flew from London to New York and Dubai and ran into serious cash flow problems amid soaring fuel costs. Launched in January 2007, the carrier used only three aircraft,.
It follows US carriers Maxjet and Eos into oblivion.
