COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The shares of the Scandinavian airline SAS fell 95% at the opening of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange on Wednesday, after announcing the day before an offer to take over Air France-KLM with two financial partners.
Air France-KLM and the investment funds Castlelake and Lind Invest will become the main shareholders of the airline, alongside the Danish state, declared SAS.
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.
Castlelake will take a stake of around 32%, Air France-KLM will hold around 20%, Lind Invest 8.6% and the Danish state around 26%, SAS said.
The rest of the capital will likely be distributed among creditors, the airline said.
Around 08:38 GMT, SAS shares fell 82.14% to 0.05 Swedish crowns (0.4304 euros).
(Reporting Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Nathan Vifflin, editing by Kate Entringer)
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