Air Transport Services Group has agreed to acquire Omni Air Internationa, a passenger ACMI and charter services provider with significant experience serving U.S. and allied foreign governments and commercial customers, for $845 million, subject to customary adjustments. The company did not assume any debt in connection with the acquisition.
Omni Air provides passenger airlift services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) via the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program. The combination with Omni Air is anticipated to add over $430 million in annualized revenues to ATSG. It also exceeds ATSG’s investment hurdle and is expected to be immediately accretive to ATSG’s adjusted earnings per share in 2019, with adjusted EBITDA in line with ATSG’s margin profile.
ATSG plans to fund the all-cash acquisition of Omni Air by expanding the term loan under its existing credit facility. The agreement is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals. ATSG was advised by Goldman Sachs and Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease, and its committed financing was arranged by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Omni Air was advised by BDT & Company as financial adviser and Conner & Winters, as legal adviser.
Joe Hete, president and chief executive officer of ATSG, said, “Combining ATSG and Omni Air’s operating expertise and array of aircraft options fulfills several of our principal goals – to broaden ATSG’s ACMI capabilities; grow and diversify our revenue streams with government and commercial customers; and reach new global markets with our full range of leasing, operating, and aircraft maintenance capabilities. We look forward to working with Omni’s excellent management team to pursue new growth opportunities, including serving the expanding global e-commerce demand.”
“We have tremendous respect for the ATSG team,” said Jeff Crippen, president and chief executive officer of Omni Air. “Combining Omni Air and ATSG’s experience and skillsets unquestionably makes for a stronger company that can better serve its customers worldwide.”
Omni Air will operate as a separate subsidiary within ATSG under Jeff Crippen’s leadership from its Tulsa, OK headquarters. An invitation has been extended to Rob Coretz, chairman, co-founder and former CEO of Omni Air, to join ATSG’s board.
