The right is granted to the Minister of Finance, but each transaction requires a separate decision of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Seimas.
“The possible decision that the state can purchase air Baltic bonds indicates that the situation is quite critical, and the company does not have enough own funds and does not see the possibility of attracting external investors to repay the bonds for 200 million euros, which mature in July this year “Karlis Purgailis, chairman of the board of investment fund managers, told Diena newspaper. The company he heads belongs to the American-controlled bank Citadele.
In February, the head of the airline, Martins Gauss, told the De Facto program that the company would be able to raise the money itself, while acknowledging that the state, as a shareholder, might play a role in this.
The report on how airBaltic is doing with bond refinancing is confidential.
As Pourgailis notes, if we evaluate what is happening from the point of view of taxpayers and understanding that the state in any case must support the airline, then buying bonds is better than investing in fixed assets.
This government action gives hope that perhaps government investment will not be needed at all, since external investors, seeing concrete potential support from the government, will be interested enough to buy the entire new bond issue.
#situation #airBaltic #critical #Citadele
2024-04-26 23:42:35
