airBaltic (BT, Riga) has joined a number of other European companies that have opted to postpone the issuance of high-risk bonds for now, due to concerns about prolonged high interest rates as well as geopolitical risks affecting the market, Bloomberg News reported citing a statement from the carrier.
The Latvian state-owned airline said last week that the redemption conditions for its bonds due in July 2024 had not been met. It issued EUR200 million euro (USD211 million) five-year 6.75% bonds in summer 2019. Last month, the company mentioned the buyout financing as a prerequisite for the “successful issue of new bonds.” It said at the time that investment banks Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co would arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings ahead of a possible new five-year bond issue.
Separately, airBaltic remains on course for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and has hired STJ Advisors LLP and Superia Corporate Finance to advise it.
Contacted by ch-aviation, airBaltic declined to comment.
According to Bloomberg, other companies such as Sweden’s Stena and France’s FNAC Darty have also recently changed their minds about potential debt sales.
On October 12, airBaltic announced that based on preliminary figures its total revenue for the first nine months of this year came to EUR502 million (USD529 million), representing a 39% year-on-year increase. It carried 3.4 million passengers during the period, up 41%. Its full financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months will be published on November 8.
