Scandinavian carrier SAS has obtained court approval to commence solicitation procedures to raise equity as part of the airline’s ‘SAS Forward’ restructuring programme.
The carrier, which is under US Chapter 11 protection, states that potential investors will have about 13 weeks to present final bids.
“We will conduct a competitive and broad solicitation process to secure equity capital that will help drive our airline forward and facilitate our emergence from the Chapter 11 process,” says chief executive Anko van der Werff.
The airline says the court-approved procedure will seek to obtain the best terms and conditions for the new equity.
SAS is looking to raise at least SKr9.5 billion ($916 million) in capital, while also reducing or converting around SKr20 billion of debt during the restructuring.
It says the final amount of equity will depend on the process as well as the carrier’s ability to generate liquidity.
“The equity raise process is the key next step in ‘SAS Forward’,” says van der Werff.
SAS entered Chapter 11 protection in early July last year, and the company is aiming to complete the court-supervised restructuring in the second half of this year.
