Sagging operational and financial fortunes at Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Great Lakes Aviation have prompted Tennenbaum & Co. to withdraw its offer to buy the former United Express affiliate’s outstanding shares of common stock for $4 a share. In a letter to Great Lakes’ board, Tennenbaum suggested a merger of the Frontier Airlines code-share partner with another turboprop operation to increase its attractiveness to potential investors. “We continue to believe that a consolidation of businesses like yours, with appropriate arrangements with aircraft manufacturers, major airlines and government agencies, would be a business that is attractive to us,” said the letter. “We are prepared to initiate such a dialogue.”
Last month Great Lakes announced it generated revenues of $26.9 million in the second quarter of 2001, down 20.8 percent from the same period a year ago. As a result, the company absorbed a net loss of $5.1 million.
