Kenya Airways seeks strategic investor as debt burdens state

Kenya Airways Plc is seeking a financial adviser as part of a process to find an investor to take a stake in the loss-making carrier. 

The adviser will develop an investor memorandum before the process of identifying a potential backer begins, according to a document presented by the company to lawmakers on Monday. The process of selecting the adviser is expected to be completed by December, it said.

An investor is being sought after the government decided that an International Monetary Fund-backed turnaround program, known as Project Kifaru, was too expensive. The plan envisaged the state contributing $493 million of budgetary support to the carrier over three years.

Once a preferred investor has been identified, “the risk and cost exposure to government of Kenya is reduced,” the company said.

KQ, as the carrier is known, reported a loss of 38.3 billion shillings ($274.4 million) in the year through December, more than double the loss of 15.9 billion shillings a year earlier. The carrier, which is 48.9% state-owned, was losing money even before the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 caused it to seek bailouts from the government. It is projecting an operating profit in 2024, which would be the first in seven years.

Kenya Airways owes creditors $1.35 billion and is at risk of defaulting on a $420.5 million government loan, which would result in “cross default implications on other facilities in addition to accrual of default penalties,” the company said.

Other debts include $439.8 million that’s owed to a special purpose vehicle domiciled in Delaware, US, that was set up to borrow funds for the acquisition of seven aircraft and one engine and $97.9 million from another one incorporated in the Cayman Islands to take a syndicated loan to purchase 10 Embraer jets. Local lenders are owed more than $224.9 million, while liabilities to suppliers, who include aircraft fuelers, total $164.2 million.