SriLankan Airlines misses another coupon on its 2024 bond

SriLankan Airlines Ltd. missed a third coupon payment on its dollar bond due later this year, according to a filing on Tuesday. 

The company said a further event of default would occur because it doesn’t intend to pay the coupon due on Dec. 25, having already missed payments in December 2022 and June 2023. 

The airline’s board intends to communicate further with the holders of these notes, it said. 

The bond with semi-annual payments matures on June 25 this year, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

The airline recently extended the deadline to seek investor interest for its sale. Selection of pre-qualified bidders is now set for mid-February instead of end-January, according to a notice posted on the Finance Ministry website earlier this month. It didn’t give a reason for the postponement.

Sri Lanka has been looking to sell its national airline at least since mid 2022, with President Ranil Wickremesinghe then saying the country’s poorest people who’ve never flown shouldn’t be saddled with its losses. The carrier serviced 126 destinations in more than 60 countries prior to the pandemic.

The 2024 US-currency bond was indicated at at nearly 67 cents on the dollar as on 3:54 Hong Kong time, the highest level since June 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.