OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air has raised the 6 billion Norwegian crowns ($714.07 million) it targeted through the sale of perpetual bonds, new shares and a rights issue, the company said on Friday.
Courts in Ireland and Norway had demanded the budget airline raise at least 4.5 billion crowns as part of a scheme to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the two countries on May 26.
The private placement of new shares raised 3.73 billion crowns and was “significantly oversubscribed”, the firm said in a statement.
The perpetual bond sale added 1.88 billion crowns from current creditors, while the rights issue to existing shareholders was oversubscribed and the final results are to be settled on May 25, the company said.
The capital injection enables Norwegian Air to exit the restructuring process it began in December last year.
The courts in Oslo and Dublin last month gave their approval for Norwegian to sharply cut its debt by converting it to stock so long as it raised the 4.5 billion crowns.
The company then decided to try and raise an additional 1.5 billion crowns to bolster its resources further as the pandemic continues to curb travel.
($1 = 8.4025 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, editing by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)