Norwegian Air slightly amends terms of conversion plan after talks with bondholders

OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL), the budget carrier that is fighting for its survival, has made some amendments to the terms of its debt-to-equity conversion plan in response to demands from bondholders, it said on Tuesday.

On Monday the airline published the full details of a plan that may help it survive the coronavirus outbreak, if creditors and shareholders give it a green light.

“The revised proposal to the bondholders reflects that the company continues to make progress with its other stakeholders,” Norwegian Air said in a statement.

If the swap is not approved, Norwegian has said, the company would run out of cash by mid-May. It has grounded 95{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} of its fleet, leaving just seven aircraft in operation.

Among the changes, Norwegian Air proposes to convert 50{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} of the value of two of the bonds into shares, rather than 60{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} as first proposed, and 80{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} of the value of a third bond into shares, rather than 85{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} as first proposed.

Bondholders will vote on the proposals on Thursday. If they approve the terms, the proposal is then put to a vote to shareholders on Monday.