Christian Mandl Blames Hedge Funds for Collapse of SkyEurope

"The co-founder of SkyEurope Airlines, Christian Mandl, blames hedge funds for the bankruptcy of the company. Hedge funds took control of the airline in 2007, when Mr. Mandl sold his stake. He said in an interview for the Internet portal EuroActiv that the main shareholders could have offered more assistance to save SkyEurope. The company’s shareholders were York Global Finance II S.a.r.l. and Focus Capital Investments B.V., which held nearly 30 percent of shares. The remaining part was a freefloat. Mr. Mandl thinks that hedge funds appointed incompetent management and reversed the company’s expansion strategy. “They decided to apply exactly the opposite strategy to the one I pushed forward. They offered the Hungarian and Polish market to competitor Wizz Air, although the base in Krakow achieved one of the best results within the group. They also reduced the fleet,” said Mr. Mandl."
Source: SITA Slovenska Tlacova Agentura