Airline SAS gets US court nod for $1.2b investment lifeline

Scandinavian airline SAS said on Tuesday it received US bankruptcy court approval for 13.2b Swedish crowns ($1.3b) investment agreement with a consortium of Castlelake, Air France-KLM, Lind Invest and the Danish state. The company also received final approval for its new debtor-in-possession financing credit agreement with US based Castlelake for a total of about $500m, boosting the carrier's effort to complete its restructuring and replacing Apollo Global's funding. Earlier in the month, the court had already approved $450m from Castlelake. In October, the company said Castlelake would take a stake of about 32%, while Air France-KLM's will be around 20% and the Danish state will hold about 26%, adding that total investments in the reorganized SAS would amount to $1.16b. Scandinavia's biggest carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in mid-2022 after years of struggling with high costs coupled with low customer demand brought on by the pandemic.<br/>