Kenya plans to increase its stake in the national airline from 29.8 percent to 48.9 percent as part of efforts to revive the loss-making firm, a senior government official said on Monday.
Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury Henry Rotich said in a statement released in Nairobi that the government advanced loans to Kenya Airways (KQ) amounting to approximately 240 million U.S. dollars.
“As part of the restructuring of Kenya Airways, the loans will be converted into equity thereby increasing government’s stake from 29.8 percent to 48.9 percent,” Rotich said.
“As a result of the transaction, the government shall acquire effective control of Kenya Airways as a matter of public interest,” he added.
The Treasury official noted that the increased government shareholding will be effected through an issue of new ordinary shares of Kenya Airlines credited as fully paid.
Kenya Airways made a pretax loss of 100 million dollars for the financial year ended March 31, which is an improvement for the previous year’s 260 million dollar loss. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh
