Oak Hill buying Southern Air
Private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners said it would acquire Southern Air Inc., a provider of air cargo services to airlines worldwide, for an undisclosed sum.
When the deal is completed, Southern Air will be combined with Cargo 360 Inc., a company Oak Hill already controls, and operate under the Southern Air Holdings Inc. name from headquarters in Norwalk, Conn.
James K. Neff, Southern Air’s chief executive officer, and his family will retain a significant minority interest in the combined company, and Neff will become CEO of the combined companies.
The combined companies will initially operate a fleet of 13 Boeing 747 “classic” freighters and offer aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance services to airline customers worldwide. It plans to add another Boeing 747 “classic” freighter, two Boeing 747-400 converted freighters and six new Boeing 777 freighters in the future.
The transaction is expected to close in September 2007.