May 31, 2016 – Air France-KLM is entering exclusive negotiations with China’s HNA Group to sell a stake in its catering business Servair, the Franco-Dutch airline group said last night.
A deal to sell 49.99 percent of Servair and transfer operational control to HNA would be based on an enterprise value of the catering unit of 475 million euros (US$528.87 million), Air France said.
Aviation and shipping conglomerate HNA stepped up its global expansion by agreeing in April an all-cash deal to buy Swiss airline catering business Gategroup Holdings for US$1.5 billion.
“Subject to HNA’s acquisition of Gategroup, Air France and HNA intend to create the leading platform in the inflight catering business,” Air France said in a statement.