Leonite Fund I LP of Delaware has purchased Seaborne Airlines for $1.425 million following a bankruptcy auction held Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, according to an asset purchase agreement filed Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The total amount includes a cash purchase price of $700,000, estimated liabilities of $675,000, plus Seaborne’s transition services fee, according to the agreement.
Corporate Flight Management of Smyrna, Tennessee, doing business as Contour Aviation, has been designated the backup bidder, with an offer of $1.375 million, according to the court filings.
The sale ends months of uncertainty over whether Seaborne, which is based in Puerto Rico and serves St. Thomas and St. Croix, would survive the bankruptcy of its sister company, Silver Airways. Both filed for Chapter 11 protections in December, with Silver abruptly ceasing operations June 11 after its sale to Wexford Capital, announcing in a statement that the buyer “determined to not continue Silver’s flight operations in Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.”
According to the sale agreement, both parties “intend that this transaction will preserve the operational continuity of the Business, maintain all existing Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation certificates and authorizations without interruption, and ensure continued service to the communities served by Seller.”
As of Friday morning, Seaborne was advertising one-way summer fare sales as low as $79 through Labor Day on its website.
Silver, which operated intra-island flights in the USVI via Seaborne, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late December in Florida’s Southern District following a series of financial challenges, including nearly $1 million in unpaid fees to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Seaborne filed its own petition at the same time.
The move came six years after Seaborne voluntarily reorganized in 2018 and announced it had secured a new $4.2 million credit facility and entered into a purchase agreement with Silver, which was headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
St. Croix Source
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