The lender is sounding out banks and private credit funds about the loan, which could have an interest rate of 10% or lower, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. Considerations are ongoing and terms of the loan are negotiable, the people said. 

Blackstone may decide not to mandate the loan, the people said. Blackstone’s bid for TMA is below US$500 million, the people said. 

Representatives for Deutsche Bank and Blackstone declined to comment. 

Bloomberg News reported in December that a group of investors, led by Carlyle Group Inc, was considering a sale of TMA again. A previous attempt to sell the Maldives seaplane operator in 2022 valued it at US$500 million to US$700 million, Bloomberg reported at the time.  

Blackstone owned TMA previously, acquiring a controlling interest in the company, as well as Maldivian Air Taxi in February 2013. The private equity firm sold TMA to Bain Capital and Tempus Group Co,  Ltd in 2017, and then in 2021 Carlyle became a majority shareholder with King Street Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management, after leading a debt restructuring. 

Travel demand in the Maldives has improved since the Covid-19 pandemic. As of November, TMA — founded in 1993 — operated a fleet of 65 DHC-6 Twin Otters, including 13 resort-branded aircraft, and conducted over 400 daily flights, according to its website, which says it is the world’s largest seaplane operator. 

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