SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) has received bankruptcy court approval in the United States for a USD1.2 billion investment agreement with a consortium that comprises the lessor Castlelake, Air France-KLM, the Danish investment firm Lind Invest, and the Danish state.
The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved SAS’s entry into the investment agreement with the winning consortium as part of the airline’s exit financing solicitation process, the pan-Nordic carrier said in a statement released late on November 21. SAS entered into the agreement for its Chapter 11 exit financing earlier this month.
The company also received final court approval for its new debtor-in-possession financing credit agreement with Castlelake for USD500 million, funding that will be “used to, among other things, refinance SAS’s original DIP term loan” from US private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Ten days ago, the court approved a loan of USD450 million from Castlelake.
“The investment agreement that was approved by the court today [...] shows that our new investors believe in SAS and our potential to remain at the forefront of the airline industry for years to come,” declared SAS’s president and chief executive Anko van der Werff.
SAS currently aims to receive court approval of its Chapter 11 plan in early 2024, to be followed by regulatory approvals and the implementation of a Swedish company reorganisation (företagsrekonstruktion), likely to be filed by SAS AB in 2024. No approval is expected to be required from existing shareholders. All of SAS AB’s common shares and listed commercial hybrid bonds are expected to be cancelled, redeemed, and delisted in a process expected to occur during the second quarter of 2024.
