Now, Kingfisher plans $400-million equity mop-up

Bangalore: Kingfisher Airlines, the merged airline operations of Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan Aviation, is looking to raise $400 million through equity, possibly by March 2009. The announcement comes nearly eight months after UB Holdings-owned Kingfisher Airlines announced that it will raise $300 million, a move which has not yet fructified.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who owns the airline, said on Tuesday the company planned to raise $400 million and the instrument for this was yet to be finalised. “A rights issue is also an option, which is open to us,” he said.
UB Holdings controls around 65 per cent in the merged aviation company. The company has been trying to raise equity to fund its operations for quite some time as there is hardly any private equity investor willing to risk his money at high valuations, an industry analyst noted. The company currently has a debt of around Rs 4,000 crore and the combined losses are close to Rs 2,500 crore.
Kingfisher will fly non-stop to London from Bangalore. It has also planned a non-stop flight between San Francisco and Bangalore. Mallya expects the Bangalore-San Francisco flight to take off from November this year.
03/09/08 Business Standard

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Categories: Kingfisher Sep 2008