Russia is considering spending approximately 107 billion roubles ($1.34 billion) from its National Wealth Fund (NWF) to recapitalise flagship airline Aeroflot AFLT.MM, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday 20 April, citing an unnamed source.
Details
The planned move is part of a new package of measures that the government is preparing to support economic development following western sanctions over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
The NWF, which accumulates the country's oil revenues, will buy into a new share issue by Aeroflot via an open subscription and spend a further 57 billion roubles on equity stakes in other Russian airlines to help them pay debts, Interfax reported.
According to Interfax, the government's stake in Aeroflot must not fall beyond the current 57.34% as a result of the new share sale.
Russia spent 80 billion roubles buying Aeroflot shares in 2020 to help it weather the coronavirus crisis.
Aeroflot and the Russian finance ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Additional Share
News site RBC reported on Tuesday 19 April that the government was discussing an additional share issue by Aeroflot that would be paid for by the NWF, whose assets stood at $155.2 billion last month.
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