Aegean Airlines mulls buying back Greek gov’t warrants

Aegean Airlines has announced that the Greek government notified it of its intention to exercise the rights granted by all of the warrants it holds for the company’s shares, which it received in 2021 as part of the flag carrier’s Covid bailout. Aegean said in a statement released on Monday, November 6 that Athens had told it of its intention on November 3. As ch-aviation reported at the time, the EC approved in December 2020 a Greek state grant of E120m to the privately owned airline, aimed at compensating part of the losses caused by the pandemic that year. Two prerequisites for the disbursement were later added - that the private shareholders must participate in a share capital increase to raise at least E60m, which was duly completed in June 2021, and the obligation for the company to issue without consideration warrants to the state, giving the right to buy the company’s shares at a price equal to that of the capital raise. The shareholders approved these conditions in March 2021. The share capital increase took place at a price of E3.20 per share, giving the exercise price of the warrants the same price, with the exercise period beginning on July 2, 2023, and ending on July 3, 2026. Each of the 10,369,217 warrants gives the right to buy one new common registered share. If the exercise is completed, the Greek state will acquire new shares representing 10.3% of the company’s share capital through the payment of E33.2m, diluting the stakes of the existing private shareholders.<br/>