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The airline continues extensive negotiations with its creditors to ensure continued survival.
Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram heads a company that currently lives on borrowed time.
Hanna Kristin Hjardar / E24
published:,
Updated!
The drama surrounding the future of the Norwegians continues.
The airline hit by the crisis writes in a stock exchange statement on Friday that it has received “robust” support from 3 out of 4 groups of bondholders, who approve of the company’s rescue plan. Leasing companies have also said yes.
Bondholders are, in short, some of those who have borrowed Norwegian money.
However, the proposal did not receive enough approval from the bondholders on the NAS07 loan, and Norwegian received 62 percent support, while it needed 66.66 percent. Therefore, there are small margins that prevent consensus.
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– We continue the discussions.
Norwegian stated on Friday that it had submitted its “latest offer”, but now it appears that the company has changed and is continuing negotiations.
– Our dialogue with bondholders continues with the clear objective of reaching a solution. Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve this within the deadline, but we will continue the discussions throughout the weekend, says Norwegian chief Jacob Schram.
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E24 has been in contact with the airline’s Director of Information for Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen. It will not comment on the matter and refers to the CEO’s statement in the stock exchange announcement.
Norwegian plans to convene a new bondholder meeting on May 18, 2020.
The company also writes that the planned extraordinary general meeting, where shareholders will vote on the proposal, will still be implemented on May 4. On the same day, the schedule for the planned capital raising of up to NOK 400 million is determined.
This is how it was voted on the various loans to Norwegian:
- On NAS07, 62.07 percent of the vote was yes
- On NAS08, there was a turnover of 89.25 percent
- In NAS09, connectivity was 97.91 percent
- On the convertible loan, 85.07 percent agreed
Changed offer yesterday
To bring its bondholders to a crisis solution, Norwegian announced a new offer on Thursday afternoon. Therefore, the bondholder meeting, which was due to start at 4pm, was postponed. The deadline to accept the “last offer” expired at 23:00, he said.
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Your guide to Norway’s rescue plan
At the meeting, the goal was to approve the airline’s bailout proposal, which involves converting the debt into shares. Norwegian will also carry out a share increase of up to NOK 400 million in a share issue. This is to guarantee state emergency loans.
Among other things, Norwegian announced the following offer change to lenders on Thursday afternoon:
- They grant bondholders a partial preferential right to raise capital to be made after debt conversion.
- The airline resolves blocking requirements that establish how long creditors must hold the shares they receive through the conversion.
- Bondholders on the convertible loan have the opportunity to convert the remainder of the loan immediately after the primary conversion.
- Norwegian will protect proceeds from the sale of so-called slots, or departure times, at Gatwick airport to insure the bondholders in NAS07 and NAS08, who have promised these slots.
Norwegian had a total debt of NOK 61 billion in New Years, distributed in NOK 21.9 billion from the financing of aircraft with promises on aircraft and the rest in debt to bondholders and financial leasing companies.
