Amazon has taken a minority stake in Air Transport Services Group, an air transportation partner that operates a significant portion of the company’s fast-growing aviation logistics unit.
Amazon held guarantees to ASTG that will allow it to acquire about 13.5 million shares of the airline cargo at an exercise price of $ 9.73 per share, or more than $ 131.9 million, ASTG said in a SEC filing Monday. As part of a separate deal, Amazon also bought approximately 865,000 shares of ASTG, with no cash exchange, according to the statement.
Shares of ATSG rose more than 4.9% on Monday in early afternoon trading. Amazon’s shares didn’t move much.
Amazon has owned warranties with ATSG since 2016. It was granted guarantees as part of an agreement to lease 20 Boeing 767s to ATSG, if the former deals with a cargo company to build its expanding air fleet. Amazon also has guarantees to buy a minority stake in rival company Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings.
Amazon’s air fleet, launched in 2016, is a key part of its drive to provide a one- or two-day delivery. The company still relies on ASTG and Atlas Air to fly a large portion of its packages, but has begun bringing some air cargo operations home, giving more credibility to the belief that Amazon Air could one day rival FedEx and UPS.
In a first version for the company, Amazon bought in January 11 used Boeing 767-300 aircraft from Delta and WestJet. Later this year, the company is scheduled to lift the veil of its $ 1.5 billion airline in northern Kentucky, which has capacity for 100 Amazon-branded aircraft and is expected to make approximately 200 daily flights. .