Air New Zealand is targeting its equity capital raising to be undertaken by September 30, 2021, to give the airline time to assess market conditions.
“We’ve seen some clearing of COVID-19 clouds recently, with the extension of the airfreight capacity scheme, the rollout of the vaccine and the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble on April 19,” says Air New Zealand Chairman Dame Therese Walsh. “These developments are good news and fundamental to Air New Zealand’s return to success, but the storm hasn’t cleared yet. We have suspended our cash burn guidance while we take the time to see how these events might impact our outlook.”
The government has agreed to extend and re-negotiate the loan facility, so Air New Zealand has sufficient liquidity to take the airline through to the capital raise. The loan facility will be increased by up to NZ$600 million in additional liquidity, bringing the total facility to NZ$1.5 billion. The facility term has also been extended through to September 2023 and the interest rate will be adjusted to reflect current market conditions.
The airline continues to focus on managing its level of cash burn, and there have been no further drawdowns on the Crown facility since interim results, therefore current drawdowns on the facility remain at NZ$350 million. (US$ 1.00 = NZ$1.39 at time of publication.)
