Article content
PARIS – Air France-KLM said on Friday it had entered into exclusive talks with private equity firm Apollo for a capital injection of 500 million euros ($ 529 million) for one of its engineering and maintenance units to help pay off French state aid.
The proceeds of the transaction will enable Air France-KLM and Air France to partially redeem the permanent bonds of the French state, the airline said, adding that the agreement would not result in any operational or staff-related changes.
The airline has a current market capitalization of 2.73 billion euros.
Article content
A spokesman for Air France-KLM said the buyout firm would not take an equity stake in the airline as a result of the agreement with Apollo Global Management, a “purely financial” operation.
Air France-KLM said in February that it planned to raise up to 4 billion euros to repay aid received during the epidemic.
The airline said this month that it was considering measures such as a capital increase and a semi-equity instrument to speed up payments to the French state, its top shareholders.[nL5N2WX115[nL5N2WX115[nL5N2WX115[nL5N2WX115
Shipping firm CMA CGM announced this week that it would acquire a large stake in Air France-KLM.
(1 = 0.9449 euros) (Reporting by Dominic Vidalon; Editing by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Edmund Blair)