Air France-KLM has an option to take control of SAS

It is possible that Air France-KLM may eventually end up holding more than half of the shares in SAS, daily Berlingske reported after Tuesday’s news that SAS has been rescued thanks to capital injections from four investors, including Air France-KLM. The newspaper has been in contact with Mathieu Guillot, head of communications at the French airline, and he says that an agreement has been reached that Air France-KLM’s stake may be increased from the current 19.9 percent to over 50 percent within a number of years.
     Due to the time constraints of the process of avoiding SAS bankruptcy, Air France-KLM could not account for a larger share here and now, because this would require approval from the competition authorities. However, in two years’ time, Air France-KLM may acquire additional shares. However, it is unclear which of the other shareholders in the future SAS will sell their shares.
      In addition to Air France-KLM, the new ownership group consists of the Danish state, which will have 25.8 percent of the shares, the private equity fund Castlelake, which has subscribed for 32 percent, and Lind Invest, which will own 8.6 percent of the company in the future. The remaining shares are distributed among the creditors owed money by SAS. /ritzau/