Kenya Airways’ (KQ) suspension at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has been extended for further six months.
The extension becomes effective from October 4, and has been approved by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to allow KQ adequate time to prepare for its planned nationalisation.
Currently, National Management Aviation Bill, 2020 which will legalise nationalisation of the airline, is under the second phase of public participation.
In the nationalisation plan, KQ will merge with Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) under a new company, the Kenya Aviation Corporation Board.
If enacted, the bill will pave way for buyout of minority shareholders at a premium and converting shares held by banks into Treasury bonds.
Currently, the government holds a 48.9 per cent stake while 7.8 per cent is held by Air France-KLM. Minority shareholders hold 2.8 per cent of the shares currently valued at Ksh397 million. Local lenders own a stake of 38.1 per cent which they acquired in 2017 after the carrier was unable to service its loans of Ksh16.9 billion.
Read: KQ Posts Ksh12.9 Billion Loss For The Year Ending December 2019
KQ was privatised in 1996 but sank into losses in 2014.
It was suspended from the bourse on July 3, 2020.
KQ posted a Ksh12.9 billion loss in the year ended December 2019, a 71 per cent increase in loss as compared to Ksh7.6 billion loss posted in the year ended December 2018.
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