ABGSC acted as joint financial advisor to Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA in connection with the NOK 12.7bn recapitalisation and joint bookrunner in the related NOK 400m equity offering

Norwegian announced on Wednesday 20 May 2020 the successful completion of the NOK 12.7bn recapitalisation, the fulfilment of the conditions precedent for the State Aid Package Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 and the NOK 400m equity offering.
In response to the current unprecedented crisis for the airline industry and in order to fulfil the conditions for the State Aid Package, which will secure a liquidity runway through the coming period, Norwegian entered into negotiations with a significant share of its creditors with the target to significantly strengthen its equity ratio and reduce its lease and debt service payments. On 8 April 2020, Norwegian called for an extraordinary general meeting to approve the planned recapitalisation and initiated negotiations with its lessors and bondholders. As a result, Norwegian achieved an impressive conversion of NOK 9bn of lease obligations and NOK 3.1bn of bond debt (principal value) to equity, interest and lease payment holidays until July 2021 in addition to bond covenant waivers and amendments.
In parallel with this, Norwegian was able to attract and raise NOK 400m in an equity offering as part of the overall recapitalisation. The equity offering received significant interest with the books being ~7x covered. The equity offering attracted strong interest, including from the existing retail shareholder base, converting creditors and new institutional investors.