Planemakers Airbus and Boeing are bracing for hefty jet order cancellations from troubled Norwegian Air amid restructuring proceedings, Reuters reported. Norwegian last year won protection from bankruptcy in both Norway and Ireland, where most of its assets are registered, and is aiming to emerge with fewer aircraft and less debt. The Irish High Court this week is hearing arguments concerning the repudiation of some of Norwegian’s liabilities including aircraft leases. Norwegian has 88 A320neo-family narrow-body jets on order from Airbus, according to the manufacturer.
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Sovereign wealth funds pulled $16.3 billion from public market investment strategies, largely equities, in the fourth quarter, the most in almost four years, driven largely by redemptions, according to data and research firm eVestment, Reuters reported. The move followed a year in which some funds, including those from Norway, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, planned withdrawals to help their governments cope with the coronavirus crisis. Net outflows from equity strategies managed by third-party fund managers reached $18.5 billion in the final three months of 2020, eVestment data showed.
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Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill has filed for bankruptcy protection at a U.S. court, it said on Wednesday, the second time in four years the company has entered into a chapter 11 restructuring, Reuters reported. The Oslo-listed group controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen returned to court along with several subsidiaries after failing to win consent from bank lenders to postpone payments on $5.7 billion of debts. Its total debts and liabilities stood at $7.3 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2020.
This weekend, Seadrill, the John Fredriksen-controlled rig operator announced that a forbearance agreement with a series of creditors expired on Friday, Shipping Watch reported. The forbearance agreement was announced by Seadrill just before New Year. The deal was entered with a series of creditors and applied to 9 of the group's 12 senior secured facilities, said that the company at the time. The expiration of the deal means that Seadrill could now be facing default claims from creditors if the company fails to make interest payments, according to the latest update.
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Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA aims to exit Irish insolvency proceedings in April as the carrier jettisons its low-cost long haul business to focus on flying in the Nordics, Bloomberg News reported. The airline expects to raise as much as 5 billion kroner ($580 million) in capital, including up to 2.5 billion kroner from existing creditors through a hybrid debt instrument, according to an investor presentation Wednesday. Secured creditors that contribute to the equity raise will boost their holdings, the company said.
The Irish High Court said on Friday it had granted an extension to Norwegian Air’s creditor protection, as requested by the examiner overseeing the process, Reuters reported. The extension to Feb. 25 was granted after a lawyer representing the Irish examiner told the court that the examiner believed the budget carrier had a reasonable prospect of survival. Norway’s government backed the airline’s survival plan on Thursday, saying it would stump up cash if private investors did too. “I will grant that application and extend the time for reporting...
Norway backed Norwegian Air’s survival plan on Thursday as Industry Minister Iselin Nyboe said that the government had no intention of being a shareholder but would stump up cash if private investors did too, Reuters reported. The heavily indebted budget carrier, which has been forced to ground all but six of its 138 aircraft due to the coronavirus crisis, asked the government for help last week. Norwegian was granted bankruptcy protection by courts in Ireland and Norway last year as it seeks to shed much of its debt. It plans to end its long-haul service.
The official overseeing Norwegian Air’s protection from its creditors in Ireland will present a report to the Irish High Court on Jan. 22, having received a business plan from the cash-strapped airline, Reuters reported.. The airline obtained creditor protection this month from courts in Norway and Ireland, giving it some breathing space to restructure its massive debts. Its main aircraft-owning subsidiaries are Irish and its parent company, Norwegian Air ASA, is registered in Norway.
Norwegian Air’s shareholders endorsed the airline’s financial rescue plan on Thursday in a series of votes, one of several hurdles the heavily indebted company must clear to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Norwegian Air now faces difficult negotiations with creditors as it tries to reduce its debt and liabilities of 66.8 billion Norwegian crowns ($7.8 billion). It must also find investors and lenders willing to put up fresh cash.
How Irish is Norwegian Air Shuttle? A High Court judge wanted to know last week. Enough to grant protection from creditors, it turned out. A few weeks earlier the Norwegian government was asking the low-cost airline how Norwegian it really was. Not enough to get a second bailout was the government’s conclusion, The Irish Times reported in a commentary. The nationality of a company can often seem unimportant. Businesses are founded in one country, move to a second and can list on the stock exchange in a third, all while their main business could be in a fourth.