NWA enters bid to buy Mesaba

Northwest Airlines Corp. is making a bid to buy Mesaba Holdings Inc., a regional carrier that already is partly owned by Northwest and serves as a Northwest Airlink partner through its principal subsidiaries, Mesaba Airlines.

In statements issued in early November, both airlines confirmed that Northwest has offered $13 a share to buy all the Mesaba Holdings shares it does not yet own. Northwest currently owns about 28% of the airline's public shares and holds warrants to acquire additional shares that would raise its stake to approximately 40%.

Mesaba said that its board of directors has appointed a special committee of independent directors to deal with the Northwest proposal on behalf of Mesaba and its public shareholders. The company said it does not anticipate making additional public announcements while negotiations are continuing.

Mesaba Holdings has 20.3 million shares outstanding, of which Northwest holds 5.7 million shares and warrants to purchase another 4.2 million shares.

Mesaba Aviation operates as a Northwest Airlink affiliate under code-sharing agreements with Northwest.

Mesaba Aviation serves 104 cities in 28 states and Canada from its three hubs at Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit Metro and Memphis International airports.

Mesaba operates a fleet of 109 turbo-prop and pure jet aircraft, including the 30-34 passenger Saab 340 and the 69 passenger Avro RJ85.

Northwest Airlines is the world's fourth largest airline offering more than 2,600 daily departures with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam. With its travel partners, Northwest serves more than 750 cities in more than 120 countries on six continents.

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