Air Europa closes the agreement with Turkish Airlines after accepting its offer of 300 million and will cancel the SEPI loans

The airline Air Europa has ended its agreement with Turkish Airlineswhich will allow the Turkish company to enter the capital of the Spanish company through a investment of 300 million eurosThe company reported this morning.

The operation has been implemented through an exchangeable loan, which will be exchanged for a participation in Air Europa close to 26%once all regulatory requirements have been met, the airline detailed in a statement.

This operation values ​​Air Europa, with majority Spanish and family capital, at around 1,175 million euros, the company has indicated.

The Hidalgo family, through Globalia, will continue to be the majority shareholder of the company while IAG will retain its current stake by purchasing shares from Globalia.

Air Europa has announced that with this injection of capital and its own resources will cancel the loans ordinary and participatory with the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI), as well as the accrued interest, for a total of almost 500 million euros, one year ahead of the established deadline.

“After settling, last May, the 141 million euros with their respective interests of the bank loan, received in May 2020, with the participation and guarantee of the Official Credit Institute (ICO), Air Europa Now closes an important stage in the financial deleveraging process addressed in recent years, confirming the success of the management strategy,” the company highlighted.

The company has highlighted that the 475 million euros lent by SEPI were essential not only to guarantee the complete recovery of activity after the pandemic, but also to generate a very positive return in national economic activity.

Thus, he indicated that not only was the conservation of nearly 4,000 jobs achieved, but also the creation of more than 600 new jobs, reaching the nearly 4,600 employees who are part of the airline today.

Throughout this period, Air Europa has paid the State nearly 70,000 euros per day in interestwhich represents a total of more than 97.2 million euros, which represents for SEPI an additional 20% of the capital lent, the company has detailed.

Negotiations for the operation began before the summer and following the acceptance of a binding offer by Turkish during the summer period, the structuring of the operation has been completed, which according to Air Europa “will involve immediate funding while regulatory and competition approvals are obtained.”

Air Europa has highlighted that the transaction represents “an important milestone” for the commercial aviation sector by bringing together in the same company three of the major players in the sector: IAG, which will continue to hold 20% of the capital, Turkish Airlines and Air Europa.