The largest shareholder in low cost carrier Wizz Air has slashed its stake in the firm at a 3.5% discount to the stock’s last close. The sale was required to meet EU airline ownership rules following the UK’s exit from the trading bloc on January 31.
Indigo Partners, a private equity firm sold 12.5 million shares of the low-cost airline at a 3.5% discount to the stock's last close at a price of 4,015 pence per share, raising proceeds of about 500 million pounds ($648.45 million).
Indigo Partners will hold continue to hold about 2.5 million shares in Wizz, leaving it with a 3.4% stake in the airline, after the sale is completed, leaving it among the top five shareholders in the Central European carrier.
One reason for the sale of Indigo shares is that it could help Wizz Air's compliance with EU shareholder rules following Britain's exit from the union. EU rules require airlines to be more than 50% owned by European Economic Area nationals to operate flights within the trading area.
The news comes on the back of Wizz Air growing its passenger numbers by 23% to 3.2m, with an increased load factor to 90%, according to a release from the firm. In addition to this its Co2 emissions were 0.9% lower for the same month next year.
The Geneva-based carrier also announced it was growing its network in 2020 by expanding to four further routes to Russia, including St Petersburg, and an additional 18 further destinations including Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia. Wizz now offers more than 710 routes connecting 154 destinations across 45 countries.