Explainer: Who will save struggling airline SAS?

Scandinavia's biggest airline SAS could announce as early as this week the result of an equity fundraising from potential investors looking to rescue the loss-making carrier. SAS filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last year as it struggled to slash costs and debt amid strikes by pilots. The airline, which in its glory days in the 1980s was named the world's best airline by an industry group, has for more than a decade struggled to compete with low-cost rivals in Europe's fragmented aviation sector. Now, having been hammered by plunging demand and travel restrictions during the pandemic, SAS follows other national carriers such as Italy's ITA Airways and Portugal's TAP in seeking new investors. SAS hopes to raise 9.5b Swedish crowns ($863m) in new equity and convert 20b crowns of debt into equity. The Danish state has said it is willing to increase its stake in SAS to around 30% from 22% currently, and that it is looking for one or more shareholders to take a majority stake. Any deal would require SAS to maintain Copenhagen as a key passenger hub, Denmark's finance ministry has said. Other potential bidders include US asset manager Apollo Global Management, which last year provided SAS with $700m in bridge financing to see it through the bankruptcy proceeding. Apollo may convert the loan into equity and thereby become a major shareholder. A source familiar with the matter said before Monday's bidding deadline that Apollo was in "pole position" to become majority shareholder and that it was aiming to take a 70% stake. Story has more.<br/>