Lima--Jun 1--Peru's flagship airline Aeroperu is set to fly again again
after Houston-based Contintental Airlines agreed to take a 49% stake in the
bankrupt company, according to Aeroperu President Roberto Abusada. He did
not reveal the amount that Continental will pay for the stake, but a
Peruvian government official says it would be at least $30 million.
A new company will be formed, keeping the name Aeroperu, Abusada told a
press conference today. Besides Continental's stake, more than 100
creditors, including the state, will retain a 30% stake, he adds. Workers
will hold a 5% stake, and 16% will be placed in a trust, with terms to be
set by creditors and the government, says the airline chief. The company has
10 days to present the final plan to the board of creditors.
Aeroperu suspended its operations in early March to avoid sinking further
into debt. At the time, it was $174 million in the red. The carrier's two
largest investors, Atlanta-based Delta Airlines and Mexican holding company
Cintra, which also owns Mexicana de Aviacion and Aeromexico, had announced
in January that they would not inject additional capital into Aeroperu and
were willing to sell their 70% majority stake.
Raul de Solar, legal adviser for Aeroperu, says: "Continental has offered a
proposal that they obtain 49% of the shares, and they will contribute the
necessary funds depending on the final adjustments to the plan." Abusada and
Del Solar spoke after a meeting in which Aeroperu creditors decided to
accept a plan to restructure the airline's $103 million in debt. Hugo Silva,
technical secretary of the government bankruptcy authority Indecopi, notes
that under the deal, Continental would invest some $30 million as part of
the restructuring process. Furthermore, some $45 million in subordinate debt
has been condoned, and an additional $18 million held by
creditors has been pardoned, says Abusada.
Under the restructuring plan, the creditors will retain all the company's
assets except for the name AeroPeru, which will pass to the new company,
together with the routes granted by the government, according to Abusada.
There is, however, some doubt about whether the Aeroperu routes can be
transferred to the new entity. "The state concedes the routes. They are not
company assets. Moreover, in order to obtain any routes, the company would
have to be certified," Lorenzo Sousa, president of the LanPeru, declared on
local television. LanPeru is battling Aeroperu for a share of the country's
domestic air travel.
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