[ad_1]
The airline Norwegian Air Shuttle announced on Tuesday that the company sent an application to Asker and the District Court of Bærum to start reconstruction negotiations in Norway, in parallel with a similar process in Ireland.
By agreement between Asker and the Bærum District Court and the Oslo City Sheriff’s Office, the latter processes the application, despite the fact that it has been sent to Asker and Bærum. Attorney Håvard Wiker has been appointed reorganizer.
On Tuesday morning, Norwegian wrote in a stock exchange announcement that the company received the rebuild request. The Oslo City Sheriff’s Office ruling states that Norwegian is in “serious financial trouble”, which is a requirement that must be met in order to be rebuilt.
Norwegian received its application for bankruptcy protection from the High Court of Ireland on Monday.
– A parallel reconstruction under Norwegian law will be to the advantage of all affected parties and will increase the probability of a successful outcome. Our goal is to secure company jobs and help secure critical infrastructure and value creation in Norway, Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram says in the press release.
According to DN sources, the move was taken to prevent the Norwegian parent company’s creditors and suppliers from saying that they are not subject to Irish law and the protection of the company in the event of bankruptcy in Ireland. Norwegian’s bond loan has been issued by the Norwegian parent company, so the bondholders are now also subject to the Norwegian restructuring.
Will not post
After a brief period of listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the Norwegian stock gained momentum and was up more than 20 percent. Later it went back a bit and ended up at ten percent. Last week, the price was up 12 percent, while over the last month overall it was still down 37 percent. Norwegian’s new communications director, Esben Tuman, told DN that the documents that were sent to Asker and the Bærum District Court in relation to the reconstruction request will not be released.
– The application does not contain information that has the character of privileged information. But the request contains sensitive information, and we will not make it available to the public, says Tuman, and refers to business matters, such as information about customers, suppliers or other competitive-sensitive information.
Geir Harald Aase, Communications Director for the Oslo Stock Exchange, tells DN that it is the duty of listed companies to assess what constitutes inside information.
On November 18, Norwegian formally submitted an application for bankruptcy protection to the High Court of Ireland. This request was granted on Monday. This means that the company receives protection against large monetary claims from creditors and others, in a period when the company is trying to save the finances of the company.
– We will now make good use of our time and work towards our goal of reducing company debt, reducing the number of aircraft in the fleet, and becoming an attractive company for investors again. We will be ready to face competition for customers after the coronary pandemic, says Schram.
Creditors approved the plans
Norwegian Irish lawyers and KPMG examiner Kieran Wallace argued in front of Judge Michael Quinn on Monday. The case documents describe the critical situation of the airline, and of the subsidiaries in Ireland in particular.
At the meeting, leasing companies Aercap, BOC Aviation and Avolon, which are also Norwegian creditors, said they accept the plans in the application sent to court and are “neutral.”
The Irish Times writes that the SMBC leasing company also accepts the process. Once the major creditors have agreed, the probability that the process will be approved increases. The newspaper also writes that other creditors, including a customer representative with money in favor of canceled tickets, have signed up. It also has an authority in Ireland with € 23 million outstanding in tax funds with Norwegian.
Norwegian points to support
At the court hearing, Norwegian’s lawyers have stated that Norwegian is confident that the process and a new start for the company will be successful, because the company has a strong core business, the support of investors and that there is some opportunity to obtain financial support from the Norwegian authorities before. the crown crisis is over.
A report commissioned by Deloitte Ireland advisor Ken Fennell concludes that Norwegian has a good chance of survival despite Norwegian authorities so far having said no to entering Norwegian with new shares. It emerged in court on Monday.
Once the Irish judge approves bankruptcy protection, the process will take between 100 and 150 days.
The process is applied to the company Arctic Aviation Assets (AAA), owner of the Norwegian plane, and to the airline Norwegian Air International (NAI). Both companies and their subsidiaries have addresses in Dublin.
More than 48 billion in debt
Norwegian has invested all of its aircraft financing through Irish subsidiaries, and there is talk of net interest-bearing debt of NOK 48.5 billion at the end of September this year. The group’s total debt was close to NOK 67 billion.
Most of the debt is related to 140 aircraft that Norwegian owns or leases in:
- Norwegian’s Irish subsidiaries still own 44 short-haul Boeing 737s and 11 long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. It is financed with bonds, loans and export guarantees.
- Through Irish companies, aircraft are still leased from international leasing companies: a total of 66 Boeing 737 aircraft and 26 long-haul Dreamliner aircraft.
- All aircraft are then registered with various aviation registries in Ireland, UK, Sweden and Norway.
Norwegian emphasizes that Norwegian share trading will continue as normal.
“The processes will have no impact on ongoing operations and the company will continue to fly as planned. Both bonds and stocks will continue to trade normally on the Oslo Stock Exchange. As mentioned above, Norwegian Reward will continue normally. , so that members can continue to earn and use CashPoints. “(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
