Our Case Studies

Appointed as administrators for flight service provider Stuttgarter Flugdienst GmbH (SFD). Business operations were maintained during the proceedings whilst an investor was found who took over and kept on 60% of the employees.

Appointed as Administrators to Silverjet, the business class-only transatlantic airline, operating from London Luton to New York and Dubai. The company had yet to receive the proceeds of a significant drawdown request made under its loan facility and working capital reserves were low. A sale of the business as a whole was agreed, however, due to unusually complex negotiations between the purchaser and third parties, the sale was not able to complete. As a result of the collapsed sale, the workforce was made redundant, despite working hard to prevent this. Subsequently, all assets were sold for the benefit of the company’s creditors.

Conducted an economic loss analysis in connection with a contract dispute between Boeing Corporation and Atlas Air Holdings, a U.S.-based air cargo and charter airline carrier. The contract dispute involved the conversion of multiple Boeing 747 jets from a passenger-configuration to a cargo-configuration.

Deal origination and advisory services for two large U.S. Private Equity firms to enable them to become the anchor shareholders of a Tier 1 subcontractor in the aerospace industry.

Zalis identified a company with good fundamentals that was over-indebted and loss-making and had a highly diluted shareholder structure. In order to secure the future of the company, Zalis approached some investors with this opportunity. Two funds showed a strong interest and jointly hired Zalis to conduct a confidential industrial and strategic survey before making their investment decision. Some of the root causes behind the company’s underperformance were identified and the turnaround potential analysed.

Zalis advised the funds throughout the whole process. In particular, advising the U.S. investors on their relationships with the French Authorities. The management turnaround plan was challenged, and organizational improvements and measures to prevent the loss of skills were suggested. Finally, through a Debt to Equity swap and New Money investment, the two funds became anchor investors.