Colombia’s largest airline Avianca SA and El Salvador’s Grupo Taca said Tuesday the merger they had announced in October became effective after all regulatory hurdles were passed.
Synergy Aerospace Corp., which owns Avianca, Brazil’s Ocean Air and an option on Ecuador’s AeroGal, will own 67% of the new merged airlines and Taca’s shareholders will own the remaining 33%, the companies said in a statement.
Bolivian-born businessman German Efromovich controls Synergy and the Kriete family controls Taca.
Strategic decisions will be made by consensus between the two shareholders.
The two airlines together register about $3 billion in sales a year and operate 129 jets.
Efromovich has said he expects the company to grow fast in the future will need many more jets than the ones already being purchased.
