October 3, 2024
Blue Star Jets founder is planning his next chapter in private aviation. After rising to notoriety by borrowing the name of his former company from the movie Wall Street and building it into a leading private jet charter broker, he exited after combining it with another brokerage, Apollo Jets. He followed it up last year by launching Star Jets International, LCC, offering both on-demand charter and jet cards. Yesterday came the big news.
A press release came across the wires stating, “Advanced Defense Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK: ADCF) is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent (the “LOI”) to acquire Star Jets International, LLC, a leading provider of private jets booking, brokerage and software solutions. Under the terms of the LOI, shareholders of ADCF will retain approximately 10% ownership and the new shareholders will own approximately 90% of the equity. The parties anticipate executing a definitive agreement within the next 30 days and closing within 45 days after certain filings are made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and/or FINRA.”
In other words, it was a reverse merger with Sitomer and Star Jets International set to take the majority stake in the new venture. It turns out the new company will be Sitomer’s platform for a roll up more private aviation brokers. In an email exchange with Private Jet Card Comparisons, he says the goal is to build sales of $100 million to $200 million via acquisitions with an initial public offering (IPO) at some point after that. The new entity will be used to raise money.
Sitomer says his target will be “corporate America and wealthy families…no seat business. (Seat business is an) unsustainable business model.” Various seat business models are being trialed by JetSmarter, JetSuiteX and SurfAir.
If Star Jets is successful and does make it to the markets, it will provide an interesting window into the private jet brokerage business. Air Partner PLC is one of the few publicly traded pure private aviation businesses, however, the brokerage is only a portion of its total revenues. NetJets, Delta Private Jets and Jet Aviation are all subsidiaries of publicly traded entities and don’t publish detailed financial data on the brokerage part of their businesses. Players like Wheels Up, XOJET and Sentient Jet are all privately held. Sitomer says his plan is to focus purely on brokerage, including jet cards.
Find the perfect solution for your private aviation needs
Save Time. Buy Confidently.
Receive an apples-to-apples comparison of programs that meet your needs from more than 500 jet card and fractional options covering 65 points of differentiation and over 40,000 data points.
