M&A Deal Summary

Southwest Acquires AirTran Airways

On September 27, 2010, Southwest acquired airliner AirTran Airways from Comvest Partners for 1.4B USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Southwest’s 3rd transaction in the Airlines sector.
  • This is Southwest’s largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Southwest’s 4th transaction in the United States.
  • This is Southwest’s 1st transaction in Florida.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2010-09-27
Target AirTran Airways
Sector Airlines
Buyer(s) Southwest
Sellers(s) Comvest Partners
Deal Type Add-on Acquisition
Deal Value 1.4B USD

Target

AirTran Airways

Orlando, Florida, United States
AirTran Airways is a discount airline operating in the US.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Southwest

Dallas, Texas, United States
Category Company
Founded 1967
Sector Airlines
Employees74,081
Revenue 26.1B USD (2023)
DESCRIPTION
Entrance to Southwest's corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
Entrance to Southwest's corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

Southwest is a discount airline serving the US market. Southwest serves more then 100 destinations in 40+ states, the District of Columbia, the Puerto Rico, and five near-international countries via wholly owned subsidiary, AirTran Airways. Southwest was formed in 1967 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 4 of 5
Sector (Airlines) 3 of 3
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 3 of 4
State (Florida) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 4 of 5
Year (2010) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 4
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2008-12-21 ATA Airlines

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

ATA Airlines was a discount airline that operated primarily in the East Coast of the US. It was formed in 1973 and went bankrupt in 2008.

Buy $8M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2024-03-28 SAFFiRE Renewables

Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States

SAFFiRE Renewables develops and produces scalable renewable ethanol. SAFFiRE Renewables was founded in 2022 and is based in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Buy -

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Comvest Partners

West Palm Beach, Florida, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 2000
PE ASSETS 7.7B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION
Comvest Partners' headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Comvest Partners' headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Comvest Partners is a private investment firm that provides equity and debt capital to middle-market companies across North America. Comvest funds a variety of investment situations, including buyouts, divestitures, recapitalizations, consolidations, take privates, and turnarounds. Sectors of interest include business services, information services, education, financial services, healthcare services, software, IT, and transportation. For equity investments, Comvest prefers control and looks to invest $50 to $150 million per transaction. For debt needs, Comvest seeks to provide $25 to $250 million per transaction. Comvest Partners was formed in 2000 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 8 of 40
Sector (Airlines) 2 of 2
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 2 of 22
State (Florida) 2 of 6
Country (United States) 8 of 40
Year (2010) 4 of 5
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 7
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2010-09-11 ProxyMed

Norcross, Georgia, United States

ProxyMed, Inc. is a provides medical cost-containment solutions services.

Sell -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2010-10-18 Accelerated Care Plus

Reno, Nevada, United States

Accelerated Care Plus Corp. is a provider of cost-efficient, non-invasive treatment programs to skilled nursing facilities and other rehab providers.

Sell $155M
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