Air France-KLM has announced the repayment of €300 million in remaining French state hybrid perpetual bonds.
The carrier group said it also "paid the required compensation of the French state for the shares subscribed in April 2021 without change required of the capital ownership" and has in turn "refinanced €407 million with a new issuance of hybrid perpetual bonds with the French state, without any restrictions attached".
The group had in February 2023 said it would carry out the remaining repayments owed to the French state. The latest transaction means the group has exited the Covid-19 recapitalisation state aid and its related restrictions without any change of capital ownership.
The new hybrid perpetual bonds with no restriction attached contain "similar financial conditions as the one repaid", the group said, and will be "assimilated to the €320 million hybrid perpetual bonds issued on 17 March 2023", with an on call date and interest rate step up postponed by two years to March 2029,
“Today marks an important milestone for Air France KLM," said chief executive Benjamin Smith, who thanked the French and Dutch governments "for their invaluable support during this unprecedented Covid 19 crisis".
"I am confident that we will be able to continue the successful turnaround we have begun thanks to our continued and accelerated transformation, and that we will emerge stronger out of this trying period, as a leader with a strong sustainability focus," Smith added.