GROWTH: Azul's founder says that the company wants to buy all of Latam Airlines.

PHOTO BY: Meio Ambiente e Turismo

In an interview with the Chilean newspaper Diario Financiero, the founder of Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras, David Neeleman, stated that the company is interested in buying the entirety of Latam Airlines. According to the businessman, the Brazilian company is willing to make an offer to the Chilean group if creditors do not reach an agreement on a plan to restructure the same.

“We know exactly what we are going to offer,” Neeleman said during the interview, where he added that Azul will probably have to wait until November 23rd. This is the statutory deadline for Latam Airlines Group to reach a restructuring plan. The executive also made clear his intention to buy all the company's assets: "I believe the group has a lot of value and we are not thinking of splitting or selling divisions".

The Brazilian-American businessman also said that, if Latam manages to reach a restructuring, Azul will not be able to make its offer. However, according to a report by the newspaper IstoÉ Dinheiro, what seems to be that such an agreement will not be reached. Stephen Eisenhammer's report states that representatives of the Latam group had not responded to the emails sent asking for comments.

It's not the first time that the names “Azul” and “Latam” are involved in news about the purchase of companies. Not long ago, Reuters had stated that Neeleman's “daughter” was interested in buying the Brazilian division of the multinational arising from the merger between TAM and LAN.

Also, it is no longer such a surprise that Azul would take such a bold decision, since, since its inception, it was conceived to be the flagship company and the largest in Brazil, in the same way that VARIG (Viação Aérea Riograndense) had been previously. Therefore, the purchase of Latam would be a strategic point in the company's ambitious growth plan.