ANA Holdings has once again postponed its acquisition of freighter airline Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA), pushing the closing date to May 1 as it awaits final regulatory approval.
Originally set to be completed on March 31, the share exchange has now been delayed five times since ANA first announced plans to purchase NCA from the NYK shipping group in March 2023.
The latest delay is attributed to ongoing reviews by regulatory authorities, particularly in China.
ANA Holdings stated: “The share exchange will be implemented subject to the approvals of the relevant authorities.
“Taking into consideration the time to complete the review of the business combination by the relevant authorities in China, etc., the company decided to change the effective date of the share exchange from 31 March to 1 May.”
Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) had previously raised competition concerns over services from Japan to Chicago and Los Angeles.
To address these, ANA and NCA agreed to provide a block space agreement (BSA) to rival freighter carrier Polar Air Cargo.
However, following the recent announcement of Polar’s closure, the agreement has reportedly been transferred to Atlas Air, one of Polar’s joint venture owners.
