Saratoga-owned Mandala Air eyes expansion

Mandala currently operates seven Airbus A320 planes and wants to buy 18 more worth about $1.6 billion. The company, which partners with minority shareholder Tiger Airways for international flights, will use its partner's existing option to buy the medium-haul jets.

The airline is looking to challenge Lion Air's dominance of the domestic aviation market by carving out a 20% share. Lion recently placed a $24 billion order with Airbus for new aircraft.

"Our target is to get two million passengers this year. We're adding more fleet and by the end of 2014 we should have 25 planes," said Sandiaga Uno, co-founder of Saratoga, Reuters reported.

Mandala was founded in 1969, effectively a spin-out from the Indonesian military. Cardig International acquired the airline in 2006 for $34 million and subsequently sold a 49% stake to Indigo Pacific Partners.

Mandala grounded its fleet in 2011, unable to handle its mounting debt pile, and Saratoga and Tiger came in with a turnaround plan later the same year. Saratoga took a 51% stake in the airline, Tiger got 33%, and creditors approved a debt-to-equity swap for the remainder. The airline resumed operations in early 2012.

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• Topics
• Consumer
• Industrials
• Southeast Asia
• Saratoga Capital Group
• Indonesia
• Southeast Asia
• Logistics
• Consumer