A group of foreign investors is apparently interested in joining the airline. And SAS is in dire need of fresh money.
A few weeks following starting his job, Anko van der Werff spoke plainly and caused a stir. «SAS fights for survival», he said publicly last October. You have to do things significantly differently at the airline, he continued at the time.
He continues to deliver his tough message. “Our cost structure is […] something we need to fundamentally change. We have to be fully competitive to remain relevant,” said van der Werff this week when presenting the second quarter results. Above all, he means the employees and their representatives, who have not yet been willing to make the concessions that the management of SAS would like.
Inject fresh money
At the same time, the SAS boss explained that the heavily indebted airline needed fresh capital. On the one hand, they want to convert 20 billion crowns (1.9 billion euros) in debt into equity, according to van der Werff. On the other hand, they plan to raise 9.5 billion crowns in fresh capital in order to secure liquidity. But the two largest shareholders are not yet convinced of the plan and are reluctant to go along with it: the governments of Sweden and Denmark, each holding 21.8 percent of the shares.
A group of foreign investors apparently wants to help. According to the newspaper Dagens Industri, she has already hired consultants to represent her in talks with SAS. She would inject capital. In return, the existing shareholders would lose influence through a capital dilution.
Norway has already dropped out
That might well come in handy for the governments of Sweden and Denmark, which have had to lend a hand to the airline during the pandemic. The government of Norway sold its shares in SAS in 2018.
Lufthansa had also been repeatedly mentioned as a possible investor in SAS in the past. the German airline, however, is currently with ITA Airways employed. SAS does not comment on the rumours.
