Latvia’s airBaltic has six months to repay €200mn

Latvian state-owned carrier airBaltichas about half a year left to find E200m to repay investors who bought bonds the company issued in 2019. The task is doable, CEO Martins Gauss said in an interview on the LTV programme De Facto on the evening of Sunday, February 11, but the state may have to help. Repaying the debt is a prerequisite for the company’s much anticipated listing on the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange, which is planned towards the end of the second half of this year. Gauss expressed confidence that the company will be able to raise the money, but he did not rule out the possibility that the state may have to get involved as the majority shareholder. Although turnover is growing, borrowing will likely be expensive for the company. At the Latvian Capital Market Forum 2024 hosted last week by central bank Latvijas Banka, airBaltic’s CFO, Vitolds Jakovļevs, revealed that the company was in negative equity to the tune of E71m, which would inevitably mean higher interest rates for loans.<br/>