COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Struggling Danish airline Cimber Sterling is seeking a 165 million Danish crowns ($31.28 million) lifeline from a Ukrainian billionaire, which could be a step to creating a regional Nordic airline.
Cimber said on June 16 it has agreed a preliminary deal with Cyprus-based Mansvell Enterprises, 75 percent-owned by Ukrainian businessman Igor Kolomoisky, which already owns two regional Swedish airlines.
“The aim is to create a strong Nordic airline,” Cimber Sterling’s chairman Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen said in a statement.
“It would be a company with a strong position in Denmark and Sweden to begin with,” Hahn-Petersen said. “I feel very convinced that they are pretty aggressive in their strategy.”
Mansvell already owns Swedish regional airline Avia Express Sweden AB (Skyways), which in turn recently peer City Airline.
Cimber said Mansvell could become its majority shareholder with a stake of about 66.7 percent.
The term sheet was the first formal step towards negotiating a binding subscription agreement under which Mansvell would commit to subscribing for shares in Cimber Sterling for about 165 million crowns, Cimber said in a statement.
The main terms of a possible subscription for shares would be based on 110,000,000 shares at a subscription price of 1.50 crowns, Cimber Sterling said in the statement.
The term sheet and execution of a subscription agreement are subject to conditions, such as completion of a due diligence, approval from the Danish
Transport Authority and Cimber’s shareholders at a general meeting, it said.
Cimber said it aims to finalise the deal, which would see Manville buy 110,000,000 shares at 1.50 crowns each, by the end of this month and obtain approval from shareholders by the end of July.
The company said it would stay listed on the Copenhagen stock exchange.
