Apollo will take stake in Aeromexico's new exit plan

Airline Grupo Aeromexico received a proposal to emerge from bankruptcy by having lead lender Apollo Global Management Inc. convert some debt into equity. A previous exit package didn’t include the US firm getting a stake. The carrier, which filed for Chapter 11 in 2020 after the pandemic decreased travel, said that a group of new and existing creditors and investors will repay the rest of the loan held by Apollo, which led the carrier’s debtor-in-possession financing. Amounts were not disclosed. Apollo orchestrated a $1b rescue plan of the struggling airline last year. The second tranche of the loan, worth $800m, gave the creditors the option to receive shares in the restructured company. Aeromexico’s largest shareholder, Delta, supports the plan and has already said it will acquire $185m of that tranche. Foreign ownership requirements will be complied through a group of long-term Mexican investors, Aeromexico said. The company’s board has approved the plan, and a revised version will be filed before a federal bankruptcy court in New York. The hearing to confirm the plan will be set by the court at a later date. The new plan will replace one filed on Oct. 1 that included $1.2b in equity and as much as $537.5m in new debt. However, that deal didn’t include Apollo converting any debt into equity. That plan estimated Aeromexico to be worth $5.4b.<br/>