Airline SAS gets US court nod for $1.2 bln investment lifeline (updated)

Sas AB

21/11/2023 22:31

(Adds background and details in paragraphs 3-6)
       Nov 21 (Reuters) - Scandinavian airline SAS  SAS.ST 
said on Tuesday it received U.S. bankruptcy court approval for
13.2 billion Swedish crowns ($1.3 billion) investment agreement
with a consortium of Castlelake, Air France-KLM  AIRF.PA, , Lind
Invest and the Danish state. 
    The company also received final approval for its new
debtor-in-possession financing credit agreement with U.S. based
Castlelake for a total of about $500 million, boosting the
carrier's effort to complete its restructuring and replacing
Apollo Global's funding.
    Earlier in the month, the court had already approved $450
million from Castlelake.
    In October, the company said Castlelake would take a stake
of about 32%, while Air France-KLM's will be around 20% and the
Danish state will hold about 26%, adding that total investments
in the reorganized SAS would amount to $1.16 billion.
    Scandinavia's biggest carrier filed for bankruptcy
protection in the United States in mid-2022 after years of
struggling with high costs coupled with low customer demand
brought on by the pandemic.
($1 = 10.4988 Swedish crowns)

 (Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
 ((UrviManoj.Dugar@thomsonreuters.com;))