Norway exploring sale of remaining stake in Norwegian Air
COPENHAGEN, June 3 (Reuters) - The Norwegian government has begun exploring the sale of its remaining 6.26% stake in Norwegian Air (NAS.OL), opens new tab, the airline said on Tuesday.
The airline said in a statement that the ministry of trade, industry and fisheries was contemplating selling up to 65,582,436 shares in the company, equal to a stake of about 6.26%.
"If the demand and price in the offering is satisfactory, the seller may thus sell its entire shareholding in the company," Norwegian Air said.
The price in the offering will be set through an accelerated bookbuilding process and will be in Norwegian crowns, the company added.
Shares in Norwegian Air closed at 14.06 crowns on the Oslo stock exchange on Tuesday, prior to the announcement. At that price, the government's stake would be worth around 922 million Norwegian crowns ($91 million).
Norway's government said last month it was converting half of a rescue loan to Norwegian Air during the pandemic into a 6.37% stake in the company.
The government said at the time that any divestiture of its remaining participation in the airline would be considered based on developments in the market and the company.
($1 = 10.1283 Norwegian crowns)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
10 hours ago
- Times
Oresund Bridge is £58 to cross. Is the toll just daylight robbery?
For four centuries the Oresund, a strait between Denmark and Sweden that is the gateway to the Baltic Sea, was a geopolitical chokepoint. The Danish kings would routinely top up their treasury by extorting transit fees from passing ships. In 1658 the Swedes got their own back by crossing the frozen waters and surrounding Copenhagen. Urban legend holds that there is still a law on Denmark's statute books that permits loyal Danes to take up a cudgel and bash any Swede attempting to traverse the ice. The sound last became passable on foot in 1996 but no heads were staved in. Four years after that, though, Sweden and Denmark opened a five-mile, €2.6 billion bridge across the strait, whose 25th birthday falls on Tuesday. The kings and queens of both countries will mark the occasion by travelling in a convoy from the Swedish side to the Danish one, pausing halfway on the island of Peberholm. The bridge has become a symbol of European integration, all but turning Copenhagen and the Swedish port of Malmo on the other side of the water into a single conurbation. 'There is a before and after the bridge,' said Linus Eriksson, the chief executive of the company that runs it. 'Before the bridge, Malmo was a town in crisis. Even Copenhagen had a tough situation. Both cities had a tough situation with poor growth. Now it's a totally different region economically.' The crossing was also made famous from Tijuana to Bulawayo by The Bridge, a noirish crime drama in which a chilly Swedish detective called Saga Noren and her Danish partner Martin Rohde solved a series of grisly trans-strait murders. Now, however, many commuters who bought into the dream of living in one country and working in the other are complaining of what they regard as a lower-level but higher-volume crime: daylight robbery. • How Swedish gangs are exporting young contract killers across Scandinavia Weeks before the anniversary, the basic price for a one-way car journey across the bridge has been jacked up to 510 Danish kroner, or £58. For the largest vans, it is the equivalent of £218. Research by Sydsvenskan, a regional newspaper in southern Sweden, suggests this is by far the most expensive bridge toll on the planet, costing about twice as much as its nearest rivals in Japan and Canada. Tommy Frandsen, a Danish warehouse manager, is the embodiment of the Oresund ideal. He lives in Staffanstorp, a Swedish town 12 miles from the bridge, and commutes across it every weekday to his workplace on the Danish side. Even though he gets a reduced rate, this now costs him nearly £350 a month, or slightly more than 10 per cent of his salary after tax. 'I feel like it's terrible because they raise the prices every year,' Frandsen said. 'The ferry is not an option. The train is not a possibility because I live out in the country and there's no trains from here.' Aravin Chakravarthi, who is based in Malmo but works in Hedehusene, Denmark, said he could not afford to traverse the bridge by car and was forced to take longer rail journeys instead. 'I don't drive by car because of the bridge toll, even on desperate days when I'm juggling tight schedules to drop off or pick up my two kids,' he said. Although the bridge consortium is jointly owned by the Swedish and Danish states, it is financed with sizeable loans, which have to be paid back. The toll is also linked by law to the cost of the privately operated ferry that runs between Helsingor and Helsingborg further up the strait, to protect the commercial viability of the latter. 'We are state-owned, so we would not be able to cut the price by half because then the commercially operated ferry company would complain or even sue us,' said Eriksson. Despite the vehicle toll, the total number of people crossing the Oresund by car, train or ferry hit a record 38 million last year, equivalent to about 105,000 trips a day. A one-way railway journey between central Copenhagen and Malmo typically costs only £13. Locals' sentimental attachment to the bridge remains largely undiminished. 'It has created love relationships. It has created party culture and university research,' said Niels Paarup-Petersen, a Swedish Centre Party MP from Malmo. 'There are such gains that have actually become a reality because of the bridge.'
The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
Court update in Spain's battle with airlines over controversial charges for larger bags
A Spanish court has temporarily blocked a government-imposed fine on budget airlines, including Ryanair, over controversial charges for larger cabin bags. The consumer ministry had levied the penalty, arguing that practices such as charging passengers for carry-on luggage violated customer rights. However, the airlines appealed the decision, prompting the court to intervene. The court ruled that it was currently impossible to fully resolve the complex issue, and that forcing the airlines to pay the fine while their appeal was ongoing would place undue financial strain on the companies. This injunction means the airlines' current baggage policies can remain in effect until a definitive ruling is made, marking an initial victory for the carriers in their challenge against the Spanish government. Ryanair and Norwegian Air logged the appeal after they were fined 109.6 million euros ($128.40 million) last year, saying they believe the fine has no basis. Irish carrier Ryanair, Europe's largest in terms of passengers, said at the time that it would take its appeal to Spain's courts. "These illegal and baseless fines, which have been invented by Spain's Consumer Affairs Ministry for political reasons, are clearly in breach of EU law," said its CEO, Michael O'Leary. Madrid's administrative court ordered both airlines to issue bank guarantees worth 111.8 million euros, equivalent to the sanctions plus interest, while the suspension is in place, it said in a statement. Industry group ALA praised the court's decision and claimed that the fines have no basis. It argued the fines "limit customers' ability to choose, and distort (the European Union's) common market". It said airlines would continue their charging policy until a final ruling is issued. Other airlines were also fined by Spain's consumer rights ministry last year. ALA said it hoped the court ruling will be later applied to all airlines. The ministry imposed a combined sanction of 179 million euros to all the airlines, which also included IAG's low-cost unit Vueling, easyJet, and Volotea. It argued they violated customers' rights when charging for larger carry-on bags, picking seats or boarding pass print-outs and not allowing cash payments at check-in desks or to buy items on board.
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Reuters
Maersk resumes Haifa port calls
COPENHAGEN, June 27 (Reuters) - Shipping company Maersk ( opens new tab said on Friday it had decided to resume vessel calls at Israel's Haifa port. "With the prospect of current cease-fire agreement bringing de-escalation to the conflict, we have decided to resume vessel calls to the Port of Haifa, and acceptance for both import and export cargo is now open," Maersk said in a statement. Maersk last Friday said it had temporarily paused vessel calls at Haifa port, amid Israel's conflict with Iran.
