Cerberus Is Said to Near Deal to Buy Worldwide Flight Services

(Bloomberg) -- Cerberus Capital Management is nearing a deal to buy air cargo handler Worldwide Flight Services, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Cerberus beat out other bidders for closely-held Worldwide Flight Services, which is owned by U.S. private equity firm Platinum Equity, according to the people. The company could be valued at about 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) including debt, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Any transaction will add to the $124.5 billion in private equity deals targeting Europe this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Worldwide Flight Services provides ground handling and technical services at about 200 locations across more than 20 countries, according to its website.

Platinum acquired the business in 2015 from buyout firm LBO France. Representatives for Cerberus and Platinum Equity couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net;Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net;Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, ;Dinesh Nair at dnair5@bloomberg.net, Philip Glamann

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