Air Macau shareholders Air China, SAR approve cash injection

As anticipated, Air Macau (NX, Macau Int’l) shareholders have approved a capital increase via cash injection to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on plummeting demand, a spokesman at the carrier confirmed to the Tribuna de Macau newspaper. Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) and the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) government, Air Macau’s largest shareholders, reached an agreement to proceed with what will be the scheduled carrier’s third such measure since 2009. However, the spokesman declined to disclose the amounts involved, adding that such details are likely to be published in the bimonthly Official Gazette of the Macau SAR, the next edition of which will appear on December 16. Neither has Air China, Air Macau’s main shareholder with a stake of 66.9%, announced the issue on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Macau SAR, which owns 21.5% of the airline, has not released a statement. A source familiar with the process told Tribuna de Macau that the increase could amount to more than MOP2 billion patacas (USD250 million), coming from the two principal shareholders only, in a two-phase operation to be concluded by the end of the year. Sources told the English-language news site Macau Business that the figure was MOP2.2 billion (USD275 million). As previously reported, before the shareholders’ meeting on December 7 sources told Tribuna de Macau that the shareholders would discuss an “increase in the company’s share capital by means of new cash inflows” and amendments to its Articles of Association related to the size and the type of the share capital. The Macanese flag carrier posted a MOP539.5 million (USD67.6 million) first-half net loss this year. Other Air Macau shareholders include the Macau Tourism and Entertainment Society (Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau – STDM; 11.57%), and, with smaller stakes, EVA Air’s Evergreen Airways Service (Macau) Ltd, investment holding IPE Group, the World Trade Center Macau, and insurance firm Companhia de Seguros de Macau.