Riga, May 2 (LETA) - The shareholder meeting of Latvia’s national carrier airBaltic decided on Monday to increase the company’s share capital by 131,152,036 shares with the face value of EUR 1, the company’s spokesman Janis Vanags reported.
The newly approved share capital of airBaltic will now constitutes EUR 256,472,824, composed of 256,472.824 shares. The share capital increase procedure is thus completed.
After the share capital increase, the Latvian state holds a 80 percent stake in airBaltic, while the new investor – Aircraft Leasing 1, which is fully owned by private investor Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes, holds a stake of around 20 percent.
The shareholder meeting also approved the new statutes of airBaltic, reflecting the increased share capital, and appointed a new supervisory board. The new supervisory board will consist of four members. The three previous supervisory board members Nikolajs Sigurds Bulmanis, Kaspars Briskens, Kaspars Abolins will be joined by a fourth member Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes.
The share capital increase is aimed at strengthening airBaltic to enable the airline to renew its fleet and successfully implement its business plan Horizon 2021.
In November 2015, the government approved the plan to sell 20 percent of airBaltic to Montag-Girmes for EUR 52 million and agreed to invest a further EUR 80 million in the airline. Under the deal, the German investor will hold 20 percent of shares in the carrier, while the remaining stake will be held by the Latvian government. The government’s contribution will be arranged as a Treasury loan to airBaltic which will be capitalized afterwards.
airBaltic, founded in 1995, so far is 99.8 percent owned by the Latvian state and serves direct flights to about 60 destinations from its home base in Riga.