Specialist Aviation Services “SAS”, the British operator better known for its subsidiaries Police Aviation Services and Medical Aviation Services, has been sold.  Few details are currently available, and while Financial Director Jim Webster confirmed the change of ownership, he declined to provide any information to HeliHub.com beyond what is already public domain.  When we asked whether the new owners were a Venture Capital company, he said that it was not.

As at 1st April, the most recently filed Annual Return stated the 100% shareholder to be the company Specialist Aviation Holdings BV, registered in the tax haven of the Netherlands Antilles. The most recently available accounts for the year to 31st December 2009 state that another Netherlands Antilles company Ehte Holding NV was the “ultimate parent undertaking”, so there must be an ownership link between these two organisations.  A further question on whether Joep van den Nieuwenhuijzen had transferred ownership to his brother, as an industry source suggested to us, was also not answered by Mr Webster.

Finally we note that non-executive Director Michael Hayle ceased to be a Director of SAS with the paperwork for that filed in the last week with the Companies House regulatory office.  Based on the Annual Return, that would leave just three directors for SAS, Jim Webster in the UK, and two others with Arizona addresses – Henk Schaeken and Richard Cobbold, the  President of Flight Trails Helicopters Inc in Mesa.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com