Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed a $16 billion borrowing plan to shield Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy from the impact of a raging coronavirus outbreak that’s threatening a nascent recovery and plans to reopen borders to tourists, Bloomberg News reported. The government can borrow 500 billion baht ($16 billion) in the local or overseas markets to finance Covid relief measures for the public and businesses, according to a Royal Gazette announcement published Tuesday.
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Thai Airways International Pcl’s creditors approved the airline’s debt restructuring plan, paving the way for payment extension and unpaid interest waiver on at least 170 billion baht ($5.41 billion) of its debt, Bloomberg News reported. The plan was backed by 91% of creditors at an online meeting, Kitipong Urapeepatanapong, chairman of Baker & McKenzie in Bangkok, the airline’s legal adviser, said by phone on Wednesday.
Thailand plans to borrow an additional 700 billion baht ($22.3 billion) to fund measures to counter the worst Covid-19 outbreak to hit Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. A meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha on Tuesday approved the new borrowing plan from the finance ministry, the people said, declining to be identified before a public announcement.
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A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved a step closer in their attempt to recover debt from loans paid out to Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the High Court in London upheld an application to amend their bankruptcy petition, in favour of waiving their security over the embattled businessman's assets in India, the Tribune of India reported.
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Thailand's Nok Air has been granted a second and final one-month extension, until 15 May, to submit its rehabilitation plan, Flight Global reported. “The Central Bankruptcy Court has considered and issued a further order approving the extension of the submission period of the rehabilitation plan to 15 May 2021, which is the last extension of time as permitted by law,” the airline said in a 12 April disclosure to the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The airline requested the extension on 7 April, in accordance with Thailand’s Bankruptcy Act.
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Thai Airways International Pcl is challenging some $7.4 billion in claims from dozens of aircraft lessors and engine service provider Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, saying that it isn’t liable for the monies because they concern future expenses and were incurred after the airline received bankruptcy protection from a Bangkok court, Bloomberg News reported. Thailand’s flag carrier, which is undergoing a court-supervised restructuring to trim debt and return to profit by raising fresh capital, is disputing around 192 billion baht ($6.3 billion) claimed by 48 lessors including BOC Aviation Ltd.
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Thailand’s finance ministry, the largest shareholder of Thai Airways International Pcl, signaled its support for a restructuring plan that includes raising fresh capital, a temporary freeze on repayment of borrowings and slashing its workforce by half to return the debt-ridden airline to profit, Bloomberg News reported. The key elements of the debt rehabilitation plan are “quite acceptable,” Pantip Sripimol, director general of the State Enterprise Policy Office under the finance ministry, said Wednesday.
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Thai Airways International Pcl is seeking a capital infusion of as much as 50 billion baht ($1.65 billion) under a debt restructuring plan set to be submitted to a bankruptcy court to keep the flag carrier operational, Bloomberg News reported. The fund may be raised through equity, loans or convertible securities, said sources, who asked to not be identified before the debt plan is submitted to the court in Bangkok on Tuesday. The capital infusion plan will need to be backed by the airline’s hundreds of credit-holders and approved by the court, they said.
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Thai Airways International Pcl, the nation’s flag carrier in the middle of a debt restructuring, reported a record loss last year after the coronavirus outbreak ground most of its services to a halt, Bloomberg News reported. The net loss widened to 141.2 billion baht ($4.7 billion), or 64.68 baht a share, from 12 billion baht, or 5.51 baht a share in 2019, Thai Airways said in an exchange filing Thursday. The annual loss was the largest ever for a Thai company, according to data compiled by the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Revenue slumped 73.8% to 48.3 billion baht.
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Thai Airways International on Friday said that it had cut around 240 executive positions at the airline as part of its bankruptcy restructuring process, Reuters reported. The announcement comes as the company nears a deadline to submit its restructuring plan to a bankruptcy court for creditor approval and as the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic adds to the woes for an airline that has been struggling since 2012.