The Scandinavian airline SAS SAS.ST announced on Saturday that it had reached an agreement with the consortium formed by Air France-KLM AIRF.PA, Lind Invest, the Castlelake investment fund and the Danish state, for aid in the restructuring of an amount of 13.2 billion Swedish crowns (1.13 billion euros).
The agreement notably provides for Castlelake to grant SAS a loan to replace financing previously granted by the American private equity group Apollo APO.N, the airline said.
The consortium increased its investment proposal by $25.26 million.
SAS said in October that Castlelake would take a stake of around 32%, Air France-KLM will hold around 20%, Lind Invest 8.6% and the Danish state around 26%.
The airline’s credit agreement with Castlelake will be used to refinance its loans, increase its liquidity and support its exit from the voluntary restructuring process, SAS said in a statement.
Air France has confirmed the increase in funding for restructuring aid.
Scandinavia’s largest carrier filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in mid-2022, after struggling for years with high costs and weak customer demand due to the pandemic.
(Reporting Gursimran Kaur; French version Camille Raynaud)