Azul’s chief executive doubled down on comments he made last week about a potential acquisition of LATAM Airlines Group, pending the outcome of the Chilean airline’s bankruptcy protection process, Flight Global reported. “The macroeconomic situation promotes consolidation in this space,” Azul’s John Rodgerson said during the Sao Paulo-based company’s third-quarter earnings call on 11 November.
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Brazilian airline Azul SA is interested in buying the whole of Chile's bankrupt LATAM Airlines Group and is ready to make an offer if creditors fail to agree on a restructuring plan, Azul chief executive John Rodgerson told Chilean newspaper Diario Financiero on Monday, Reuters reported. "We know exactly what we will offer," Rodgerson said in the interview, adding that Azul would likely have to wait until Nov. 23 when a statutory limit on reaching a restructuring plan runs out. "We would buy the whole asset.
Latam Airlines Group’s chief executive wants to steer his company out of bankruptcy next year with a shrinking carbon footprint and lower costs that can help it grow in a travel market still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Roberto Alvo said that Latin America’s largest air carrier is making progress on a financing plan that it will submit to a judge next month, putting it on track to exit bankruptcy protection as soon as the first half of 2022.
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Chile’s Senate Constitution Committee approved a proposal for a fourth round of early pension withdrawals that would pump as much as $20 billion into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Bloomberg News reported. The committee voted 3 to 2 in favor of legislation on Tuesday despite growing opposition to the measure. The bill now moves to the Senate floor, where it faces difficult odds of passing. Three prior rounds of withdrawals have injected some $49 billion into the economy, buoying consumption and inflation amid the coronavirus outbreak.
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Two key groups of Latam Airlines Group SA creditors, frustrated by a bankruptcy process that has dragged on for almost 18 months, are asking for a mediator to help devise an exit plan for the Chilean carrier, Bloomberg News reported. The airline’s unsecured creditors and a consortium holding billions of dollars in claims complained on Thursday about the lack of progress and asked the court to order mediation. A mediator would facilitate talks about how creditors will be repaid and where existing shareholders fit into that plan.
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Oppositional lawmakers in Chile are moving to oust President Sebastian Pinera after the Pandora Papers revealed his involvement in an ethically dubious offshore business deal, The Hill reported. The Chilean president had been “compromising the Nation’s honor and infringing the constitution and the country’s laws,” 17 lawmakers alleged on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. The move from opposition lawmakers comes amid popular protests against Pinera's government that have surged after the president showed up in the massive leak of financial documents.
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An association of U.S. businesses in Chile warned on Tuesday that a proposal to allow Chileans to draw money from their pension funds for the fourth time since the coronavirus pandemic began could seriously harm the country's business climate, Reuters reported. Chile's lower chamber of Congress approved the bill late last month, but it faces more resistance in the Senate, where right-leaning lawmakers allied with the administration of President Sebastian Pinera have opposed it. "This new withdrawal of pensions, and particularly of life annuities, ...
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LATAM Airlines Group, the region's largest carrier, said yesterday that it had secured additional financing of up to $750 million, a key step in a bankruptcy protection process the airline initiated in 2020, Reuters reported. LATAM filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. in May 2020 as world travel came to a halt amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, it was the world's largest airline to take such action due to COVID-19.
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Chile's lower congressional chamber on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow citizens to make a fourth withdrawal from their pension funds, and sent it to the Senate for a vote, despite opposition from the government, Reuters reported. The initiative passed with 94 votes in favor, just one more than the minimum needed, while 39 lawmakers voted against and 9 abstained. Chile's government and the Central Bank have warned that passing the bill would negatively affect the economy, as Chileans further deplete funds meant for retirement.
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LATAM Airlines said yesterday that it has received several offers to fund its exit from chapter 11 bankruptcy, each of which are worth more than $5 billion, Reuters reported. LATAM, the largest airline in Latin America, received the offers from creditors and shareholders, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City. The Santiago, Chile-based company did not reveal the number of offers received or from whom they came, but Delta Air Lines Inc is LATAM’s largest shareholder. Other shareholders include Qatar Airways, with a 10% stake.
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