Rifa Group has successfully completed the 75% shareholding rights transfer of Airwork Ltd (NZX: AWK) with $212million (around 1billion RMB).
Airwork is the largest service provider in the field of general aviation in New Zealand with 79 years of operating history, focusing on operating lease of helicopter and fixed wing aircraft, as well as MRO business of aircraft and engines. Its businesses cover such markets as NZ, Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South Africa. Currently it owns 42 helicopters, and 25 fixed wing aircraft (mainly Boeing-737). Airwork has MRO certificates for providing services to world’s major navigation aircrafts and engine manufacturers, including Honeywell Service Center Certificate, Engine Testing Certificate, Eurocopter Service Center Certificate, EASA MRO Certificates and etc. In the 2016 financial year, its revenue stood at $166million with net profit after tax $24.6million, reaching year-to-year growth rate at 14.56% and 58.71%, respectively.
Aviation industry is one of the core businesses of Rifa Group. The successful acquisition of Airwork is a pivotal milestone on its way to further advance in this sector. The Group’s wholly-owned subsidiaries Air Asia has its operational base in Xinjiang and Zhejiang; public company Zhejiang Rifa Precision Machinery Ltd has triumphantly set foot in aircraft machinery manufacturing and aircraft components processing thanks to its acquisition of MCM Italy and Gogar, and is now a key provider to Airbus, Eurocopter and AVIC.
After becoming the controlling shareholder of Airwork following this acquisition, Rifa Group will actively integrate, at home and abroad, reasonable resources and strongpoints to give the synergy its full play so as to propel the Group to become China’s leading operator in general aviation and MRO service provider for third party helicopter.