2024-09-03 17:50:00
Volotea has announced a capital increase of up to 100 million, of which the Greek airline Aegean will contribute 50 million, making it the owner of 21% of the Spanish airline.
In a press conference held this Tuesday in Athens (Greece), the company explained that this capital injection will take place in two steps are the The first, which has already been executed, is 50 million euros, 25 million coming from the Aegean and 25 million from the company’s current investors, among whom is the founder and CEO, Carlos Muñoz. With this first expansion, Aegean takes over 13% of Volotea. After that, they hope to execute the second phase before the first quarter of 2025, which will be for an equal amount and the same distribution, so that up to 21% of Volotea would own Aegean at the end of the second tranche. This would make her Volotea’s second largest shareholder and give her a seat on Volotea’s board.
However, the participation of the Greek company is still not effective, since the airline has received convertible debt, which counts as a loan, but can be converted to capital at the request of the Aegean or when there is a liquidity event, such as an IPO. . Muñoz indicated that this capital injection “is a significant financial milestone” and that they are “very happy with this new step.”
Volotea hopes that the entry of Aegean into its shareholding will allow it to improve its strategic and financial position in Europe to address the changes taking place in the sector. In this context, the Lufthansa group has just acquired Italy’s ITA Airways and has publicly expressed its interest in intervening in the privatization of Portugal’s TAP Air, as have competitors IAG and Air France-KLM (which, on in turn, into the SAS shareholding). The two companies have had a bilateral codeshare flight agreement since 2021 on routes with Italy, France, Spain, and Greece, a collaboration that is now expanding, and offers a total of 140 routes jointly.
Pérez-Llorca advised the company on the legal aspects of this operation and Morgan Stanley and Barclays advised on the financial aspects.
Going public
Carlos Muñoz and Lázaro Ros, the founders of Vueling, created Volotea in 2011. Currently, the company operates in 110 airports and has 21 bases in small and medium-sized European cities, operating more than 450 routes this year with a fleet of 44 Airbus aircraft .
Volotea’s plans include going public, which its CEO believes “could happen at any time.” Last April he indicated that it could happen in 2025 or 2026, but it is necessary that a “window” is opened in the market that allows entry. The airline already tried to gain access to the trading floor in 2016, but it was not possible due to the market conditions at that time. After that, he moved his plans to make the jump between 2020 and 2021, which also did not come true due to the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.
Regarding Aegean, Aegean is the main airline of Greece, a member of Star Alliance, founded in 1999. It has been listed on the Athens Stock Exchange since 2007 and its turnover exceeds 1.7 billion euros.
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