Dallas Business Journal
Omniflight Helicopters Acquires Two Companies
October 3, 2008
Omniflight Helicopters Inc., already one of the oldest and largest air ambulance firms in the country, just got a little bigger with two acquisitions.
The privately held Addison company did not disclose terms of its purchases in September of Savannah, Ga.-based LifeStarOne or Idaho Falls, Idaho-based Airlink Inc.
Anthony DiNota, Omniflight's president and chief operating officer, says there will be no layoffs connected with either transaction. Omniflight, which has close to 1,080 employees in 19 states, will pick up at least 15 people and one BK-117 helicopter with the LifeStarOne deal and about 20 employees and one mountain rescue helicopter with Airlink.
According to DiNota, both of the acquired companies provide air-medical services to hospitals in their respective regions – Savannah's Memorial University Medical Center in the case of LifeStarOne, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Airlink's case.
Omniflight purchased Airlink from a privately held aviation company whose name wasn't disclosed, and LifeStarOne from Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.
"In both of these cases, we have adjacent operations in nearby towns and cities. There are more benefits than a single operator will realize" in terms of economies of scale, DiNota says.
Owned by the Chicago private equity firm Wind Point Partners, which has pumped at least $70 million into the business, Omniflight has grown organically and through acquisitions, having done two other purchases since 2006. Currently the firm operates 100 aircraft nationwide at 73 bases at airports and hospitals, predominately in the Southwest, Midwest, and Southeast regions of the country.
Greg Bustin, president of the Dallas management consultancy Bustin & Co., says it's important for companies doing acquisitions in remote locales to make clear to its new employees precisely what will be happening.
"People matter," he says. "And when you're going through this acquisition, assimlation and integration, it's very difficult to over-communicate."
Posted with Permission form the Dallas Business Journal, October 3, 2008
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