Cargo 360 just bought Southern Air

[Cargoav8or]

it is what I just heard from one our engineers in ground school. I actually heard the voice mail.

true or not.....?

Guam, what else do you know? Congrats.

Oak Hill Capital Partners to Acquire Southern Air
Thursday July 26, 5:15 pm ET Southern Air to be Combined with Cargo 360 to Create a Leading Global Air Cargo Company

NEW YORK, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Oak Hill Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire Southern Air Inc., a premier provider of air cargo services to airlines worldwide. Subsequent to the closing of the transaction, Southern Air will be combined with Cargo 360, Inc., an existing Oak Hill Capital portfolio company. Southern Air's founder and CEO, James K. Neff, and his family will retain a significant minority interest in the combined company, and Mr. Neff will serve as its CEO. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.[SIZE=-2]ADVERTISEMENT[/SIZE]
The combined business, which will operate under the Southern Air Holdings, Inc. name, will be one of the largest and fastest growing global air cargo companies providing aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance ("ACMI") services to airline customers worldwide. On a combined basis, Southern Air Holdings will operate a fleet of 13 Boeing 747 "classic" freighters. In addition, Southern Air Holdings has reached agreement to add another Boeing 747 "classic" freighter and two Boeing 747-400BCF freighters to its fleet in 2008, and anticipates operating six new Boeing 777 freighters in the future. Southern Air Holdings will be headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, with flight and maintenance bases located around the world.
Mr. Neff said, "We are very excited to partner with Oak Hill Capital to create the leading low cost, global provider of ACMI cargo services. The combination of Southern Air and Cargo 360 will result in significant cost savings and synergies which will enhance our service offering to current and future customers. In addition, Oak Hill Capital's experience in, and commitment to, the broader aerospace industry will provide us additional resources to grow our business."
Rowan Taylor, a Partner at Oak Hill Capital Partners, added, "Southern Air and Cargo 360 each share a common vision for successfully serving their global airline customers, and the combined business will have the resources to continue this service and to grow. We look forward to working with Jim and his outstanding management team."
The transaction is expected to close in September 2007.
Oak Hill Capital Partners was advised by CIBC World Markets Corp. and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Southern Air was advised by Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.
About Oak Hill Capital Partners
Oak Hill Capital Partners is a private equity firm with more than $4.6 billion of committed capital from leading entrepreneurs, endowments, foundations, corporations, pension funds and global financial institutions. Robert M. Bass is a lead investor. During a period of over 20 years, the professionals at Oak Hill Capital Partners have invested in more than 60 significant private equity transactions. Oak Hill Capital Partners is one of several separate Oak Hill partnerships, each of which has a dedicated and independent management team. These Oak Hill partnerships comprise more than $25 billion of investment capital across multiple asset classes, including private equity, special situations, high yield and bank debt, venture capital, real assets, public equity and hedge funds. In addition to Cargo 360, the Oak Hill partnerships' current aerospace investments include (i) Primus International, Inc., a leading global Tier II supplier of structural components, kits and assemblies, (ii) OH Aircraft Acquisition, LLC, a newly- formed aircraft leasing company that has executed a definitive agreement with The Boeing Company to acquire six Boeing 777 freighter aircraft, and (iii) a portfolio of aircraft on lease to airlines around the world.

 

[pilotbrain]

Here I go to the bottom of SAI LIST. PISS!

 

[Cargoav8or]

Here I go to the bottom of SAI LIST. PISS!

Yes, but there is a future, and somehow I doubt you would be there long. People will still tire of the skeds and until the money comes up people will continue to leave. You'll probably be a 74 capt in no time.

 

[propsarebest]

So is C360 gonna move from Seattle??

Man, I hope not.

 

[pilotbrain]

Anyone know which company pays more? dose SAI have a union? who has the better QOL?

 

[27 driver]

The letter I just received form SAI management is that SAI will still have control and the Neff's will still be in command. Here is a clip from the email.

Under the terms of our agreement, which we signed last week, Cargo 360 will ultimately be merged into Southern Air. The combined company will operate under the Southern Air Holdings Inc. name and will be headquartered at our existing Connecticut facilities. I will remain as CEO of the combined company, with Brian Neff, currently our CFO, promoted to President. We will also remain as significant equity owners. There will be no change as far as any of SAI’s headquarters or field personnel are concerned. With respect to our crewmembers, we are working on a merger of seniority lists based on hire date. It is my understanding that this method results in a straightforward combined list, especially since Cargo 360 currently operates at approximately the same routes and utilization as we do. As a result, no SAI crewmember status will be affected. Bottom line, the only consequence to Southern Air and all its employees is that we will be able to benefit from Oak Hill’s resources, access to capital, and commitment to aviation, resulting in a larger and stronger company. As long as we continue to work together as a team and keep our focus on operational excellence and fiscal discipline, we will always be successful.

Not sure what the terms of the merger are or how they plan on merging the groups. If I had to guess many from Cargo 360 will not like the work rules at SAI. SAI just went union (in house) and are in the process of getting that started. Lets hope it goes smoothly. I am sure there will be many that are unhappy, and I am probably one of them. I guess time will tell. Hopefully there will be no fighting among the groups.

 

[pilotbrain]

My Bet is that 35% of 360 pilot never make the jump to the SA list.. I don't know how most of the 360 guy are going to handle 40 days on the road.

 

[pilotbrain]

God Speed!!!

 

[27 driver]

My Bet is that 35% of 360 pilot never make the jump to the SA list.. I don't know how most of the 360 guy are going to handle 40 days on the road.

I would have to agree with you, Cargo 360 has a much better schedule. It is not as bad as you have heard though. I have been at SAI for about a year now and have never been out more than 23 days and that only happened once. I guess I have been lucky. The million dollar question for me is what are the hire dates of the FO's at Cargo 360. Am I lucky or am I hosed. Only time will tell.

Oh ya, I think Cargo 360 has better first year pay also.

 

[StripAlert]

Take Me To Your Leader

Hey Southern Air guys, we need to get a dialog going between the pilot groups. There is an organizational movement rapidly afoot at Cargo 360 as we speak, and it would do us all good to come together under the same roof sooner rather than later. It's a good sign that the pilot lists are being integrated in what appears to be a fair and equitable manner, as it's not going to pit one side against the other. The letter we got today says substantively the same thing as yours--if we go to Southern Air, we'll go at our current seat or better and our current pay or better, and our seniority list will be merged with yours by date of hire.

Someone from Southern, please PM me. We have a website set up already to encourage communication amongst our pilot group, and it's not going to be too hard to set up some special message boards and integrate you guys into that so we can get to know each other and come up with a plan.

I'll concur that the Cargo 360 guys are none too happy about the potential of being gone over 20 days a month. In fact, we had recently made some significant inroads towards getting that reduced to 16 days. If we can all come together and speak with a single voice, this might be a great opportunity to improve QOL at Southern for everyone's benefit.

 

[johnsonrod]

Hey Southern Air guys, we need to get a dialog going between the pilot groups. There is an organizational movement rapidly afoot at Cargo 360 as we speak, and it would do us all good to come together under the same roof sooner rather than later. It's a good sign that the pilot lists are being integrated in what appears to be a fair and equitable manner, as it's not going to pit one side against the other. The letter we got today says substantively the same thing as yours--if we go to Southern Air, we'll go at our current seat or better and our current pay or better, and our seniority list will be merged with yours by date of hire.

Someone from Southern, please PM me. We have a website set up already to encourage communication amongst our pilot group, and it's not going to be too hard to set up some special message boards and integrate you guys into that so we can get to know each other and come up with a plan.

I'll concur that the Cargo 360 guys are none too happy about the potential of being gone over 20 days a month. In fact, we had recently made some significant inroads towards getting that reduced to 16 days. If we can all come together and speak with a single voice, this might be a great opportunity to improve QOL at Southern for everyone's benefit.

Good luck guys. Sounds like you are getting organized quickly - that is pretty impressive.

 

[unwashed]

Yes we are, SAI pilot group should consider the same. This merging of two different operating certificates is not easy. Cargo360 was certified under ATOS (SIC) which is tougher all around compared to when SAI was certified. And it is interested how Neff said "majority equity holder" when Oakhill said Neff would be a minority holder. Who is correct? Feel free to PM me on the details of our orginizing.

 

[StripAlert]

And it is interested how Neff said "majority equity holder" when Oakhill said Neff would be a minority holder. Who is correct?

Actually, unless I'm missing something, it looks like Neff said "significant equity owners" which appears carefully-crafted, but doesn't necessarily (and probably doesn't) mean majority.

 

[ironspud]

Hey Southern Air guys, we need to get a dialog going between the pilot groups. There is an organizational movement rapidly afoot at Cargo 360 as we speak, and it would do us all good to come together under the same roof sooner rather than later. It's a good sign that the pilot lists are being integrated in what appears to be a fair and equitable manner, as it's not going to pit one side against the other. The letter we got today says substantively the same thing as yours--if we go to Southern Air, we'll go at our current seat or better and our current pay or better, and our seniority list will be merged with yours by date of hire.

Someone from Southern, please PM me. We have a website set up already to encourage communication amongst our pilot group, and it's not going to be too hard to set up some special message boards and integrate you guys into that so we can get to know each other and come up with a plan.

I'll concur that the Cargo 360 guys are none too happy about the potential of being gone over 20 days a month. In fact, we had recently made some significant inroads towards getting that reduced to 16 days. If we can all come together and speak with a single voice, this might be a great opportunity to improve QOL at Southern for everyone's benefit.

Talk to our lawyer.

 

[C-141/C-5]

Neff holds 15% Oak 85%. Pilot groups need to come together and bring SA's scale to Cargo360's first year pay scale and hopefully adopt their management's culture of making a pilot an asset rather than a liability. Cargo360's quality of life is excellent due to excellent scheduling and trust in top notch mangement. If Oak Hill has any sense they will bring these leaders to SA (Cargo360 management) to make this transition seamless and profitable.