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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0016.PDF
BUSINESS Gulf crisis slows Yemeni merger BY ALAN GEORGE Talks on the merger of Yemen's two airlines, Yeme- nia and Alyemda, have been stalled by a dispute over the level of Saudi ownership in the unified company. North and South Yemen united into a single Yemen Re public in May and a series of state-owned companies have since been merged. The con trasting ownership of the for mer flag-carriers, however, is proving to be a problem. Yemenia, the northern airline is 49% owned by Saudi Arabia, while Aden-based Alyemda is 100% state-owned. Riyadh has been pushing for a 49% share of the merged airline, but Alyemda insists that the stake should be no higher than 25%. The Saudi Government ap proved the merger in principle several months ago, but negotia tions have been dogged by the friction between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, stemming from the Gulf crisis. While Riyadh favours the military option, Yemen insists that the conflict should be resolved by negotia tion. Against this background, Saudi delegates have at least twice failed to attend meetings called by Yemenia to discuss the airline merger. As a last resort, Yemenia chairman Muhammad al Haimi called shareholders to an ex traordinary general meeting in Sana'a on 8 December, 1990, also attended by the Yemeni transport minister, Saleh Abdul lah Muthanna. The Middle East Economic Di gest reported that a press release was prepared announcing that the merger would take effect from 1 January and that a com mittee would be appointed to assess Alyemda's assets with a view to recapitalising the new company. At the last moment, however, the press release was withdrawn as the talks again stalled over the question of the Saudi stake in the merged air line. Both sides have since con sulted their respective govern ments on how the issue might be resolved, and there were hopes of a further meeting in Sana'a in late December. • Omni reacts to British travel recession Omnicorp Advisory Services, the subsidiary of Swiss in vestment group Omni Holdings, has sold its 49% stake in Air Europe's parent company Hudson Place Investments (HPI), to German interests. A 19.5% holding has been acquired by ASKO Deutsche Kaufhaus, whose COMCO sub sidiary has more than 70 travel agencies. The 29.5% balance has been taken by Harpener, a Dortmund-based industrial and financial holding company. COMCO holdings deputy president Michael Crippa will join the HPI board. He was formerly executive vice-presi dent of Swiss Federal Railways and president of Kuoni, the largest Swiss tourist group. ASKO Deutsche Kaufhaus had profits in 1989-90 of about $84 million from a $10 billion turnover. Harpener made $54 million from $140 million sales. Omni bought its stake in HPI three years ago when chairman Harry Goodman took the company Omni Holdings loses interest in Air Europe. (Picture by Mark Wagner) back-jnto private ownership. The ^reduction in values fol- lowing^he 1987 stock-market crash a'ljji the reduced fortunes of Britain's travel industry may mean that Omni has accepted a loss on its investment. • •jra ^* - MK ^5^ * fflbk V; •J • - dhj «!(§ & G ' [ - jL ""• . :> ESA and China open services talks China has started talks with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the international pro vision of launch services and the fair exploitation of technol ogy on the international market. Amid growing complaints from Arianespace that China has allegedly "dumped" prices for telecommunications satel lites launches, a Chinese delega tion led by Sun Jiadong, chair man of the commission for sci ence and technology of the Min istry for the Aerospace Industry, met with ESA director-general Jean-Marie Luton and represen tatives of member states in Paris. "Arranging for the fair exploi tation of launcher technology on the international market is a difficult task that will have to be faced in the coming period," says ESA. "The first step in approaching that task is that of communication." • UK defence job for Mcintosh Dr Malcolm Mcintosh is to succeed Sir Peter Levene as the United Kingdom's chief of defence procurement. Mcintosh, at present the secretary of the Australian Department of Indus try, Technology and Commerce, has been appointed initially for three years. Mcintosh has been instru mental in privatising govern ment defence factories and dockyards in Australia. His ap pointment marks the second time that someone from outside the UK civil service has been selected for this key post. Levene left defence contractor United Scientific Holdings in 1985. As chief of procurement his annual £95,000 salary breached civil service pay rates. Mcintosh will receive the nor mal salary for a Grade 1 perma nent secretary of £77,000. Levene will join the British office of US mergers and acqui sitions company, Wasserstein Perella. • Staff reductions at FN Moteurs B elgian national aircraft en gine manufacturer FN Moteurs is to cut its workforce by 450 — reducing staff num bers to 1,230. The concern has been hit by diminishing military orders and the weak US dollar. Parent company FN Group recently said it was not willing to fund an increase in the capi tal of FN Moteurs by BFr3 billion ($9.7 million). The com pany says it is seeking to sell its 42.5% share. FN Moteurs has built all the engines for Belgian Air Force jet aircraft since the Hunter was in service and is currently produc ing F100 engines for F-16s. Other military work includes the overhaul of Atar engines for Belgian Air Force Mirage 5s. • The company is also involved in work on the General Electric/ Snecma CFM range of engines and undertakes development and production of components for European Space Agency Ari- ane rocket engines. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 January, 1991
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