SAS calls news conference after bidding war

Scandinavian Airlines will hold a press conference Tuesday at 6 p.m. about the airline’s ownership, the airline announced late Monday in a stock exchange announcement. The announcement comes after the company’s board of directors met in Stockholm Monday. In the stock exchange announcement, SAS says that on Tuesday it will provide a “status update on the company’s ongoing capital raising process”. SAS declined to comment further. According to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, two investors have been in a bidding war over who will take over control of the bankrupt threatened airline.
     According to Aftenposten, one group of investors includes the American private equity fund Apollo. Who else has participated and who is in charge of the other group, the media has not reported. Apollo stepped in with a loan guarantee of USD 700 million when SAS filed a request for so-called Chapter 11 protection in the US last year. SAS will initially raise SEK 9.5 billion in this process, and Apollo has previously indicated that the fund is ready to convert the loan in whole or in part into share capital. The Danish state, which currently owns about 22 percent of SAS, has indicated that it is ready to increase its stake to up to 29.9 percent in an attempt to get the company back on track. It is unclear whether the state is part of one of the two investor groups that have been involved./ritzau/