SAS AB Marks Last Day Of Trading As Airline's Reorganization Plan Advances

Summary

SAS will delist its common shares and hybrid commercial bonds at the end of the trading day on August 13.
The delisting was part of the airline’s reorganization plan in Sweden.
Air France-KLM will become one of the shareholders of SAS after it exits its restructuring processes.

SAS Scandinavian Airlines, the de facto flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, has marked the last day of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchanges in the three aforementioned countries’ capitals.

The three stock exchanges close the trading day at 17:30 local time (UTC +2).

Delisting shares and bonds

As announced by

SAS

on August 12, the airline’s existing common shares and hybrid bonds will be delisted on August 13.

The delisting was part of the carrier’s reorganization plan that the Stockholm, Sweden, District Court had approved on July 19.

The reorganization plan, which has been a part of its

Chapter 11

bankruptcy proceedings, which the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved on March 19, began on March 27 when the airline applied for the reorganization at the Swedish court.

Photo: Tirana International Airport

Nevertheless, the record date on which holders of the commercial hybrid bonds must still hold the securities was set to August 15.

In addition to the fact that bondholders will not be able to transfer these instruments following that day, they will have to hold these securities in order to receive distributions under the aforementioned reorganization plan.

SAS’ shares were listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm stock exchanges. The latter market also listed the carrier’s commercial hybrid bonds.

SAS Airbus A320neo landing at Hamburg Airport HAM shutterstock_2158000047

US Bankruptcy Court Approves SAS’ Restructuring Plan

The airline still awaits other approvals before it can exit bankruptcy.

Providing shares to new investors, including Air France-KLM

On June 10, SAS publicly announced the reorganization plan, which would distribute unlisted shares to new investors, namely Castlelake, an investment firm, Air France-KLM, and Lind Invest, another investment firm that has partnered with the government of Denmark.

The plan also included provisions to delist all of the company’s shares, a bonus issue without new shares, and the required changes to SAS’ articles of association.

Photo: Omar F Martinez | Shutterstock

The reorganization plan in Sweden was part of the airline’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US.

“Application for company reorganization in Sweden was specifically contemplated by the Chapter 11 Plan, and a successful completion of the company reorganization proceeding is a condition precedent for the Chapter 11 Plan to become effective.”

At the time, SAS said it expected to complete Chapter 11 proceedings and the reorganization plan at the end of summer 2024 but warned that the timeline may change.

As part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, SAS’ new shareholders will be Castlelake (32%), the Government of Denmark (25.8%), Air France-KLM (19.9%), Lind Invest (8.6%), and eligible creditors to settle its debts.

Air France-KLM Group To Acquire Non-Controlling Stake In SAS

SAS will now become a private company after a consortium led by a US private equity firm won the bid.

Emerging from bankruptcy

According to the airline, it initiated the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to accelerate the implementation of its ‘SAS FORWARD’ business plan in July 2022.

While the business plan was launched in February 2022, “difficulties in reaching agreements with key stakeholders and a pilot strike in July 2022” resulted in the decision to initiate bankruptcy proceedings.

An essential part of the process was to secure an investment to avoid SAS’ insolvency, the airline said in a document describing the reorganization plan.