Two competing groups of potential investors, one of them led by US private equity group Apollo Global Management, are vying to become the main shareholder of SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup), with Scandinavian media speculating that the process may whittle down to one bidder by the deadline for the submission of bids on October 2.

This is according to the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, citing unidentified sources. It did not name the second group of investors.

SAS declined to comment to ch-aviation, referring to a statement released last week in which it announced that the submission of bids was extended for a week from September 25 at the request of one or more bidders. It will announce the winning bid as soon it concludes the ongoing evaluation process, it assured.

SAS aims to raise at least SEK9.5 billion kronor (USD870 million) in new equity and convert or cut its SEK20 billion (USD1.83 billion) debt burden as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring process in the United States.