이 기사는 2021년 09월 28일 08:02 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Air Busan has raised 227.1 billion won ($192.9 million) through a rights issue, securing funds that will help the South Korean low cost carrier revive from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline said earlier Friday that its latest rights issue attracted strong interest from existing shareholders, with a subscription rate of 105.4%. Air Busan’s existing shareholders include its parent company Asiana Airlines, Busan Metropolitan City, some Busan-based corporations and individual investors.

Air Busan offered some 119 million common shares at 2,030 won apiece. With the deal oversubscribed, the airline is expected to raise a total of 227.1 billion won.

The funds will help improve the equity position of the company whose shareholders’ equity of 57.5 billion won was less than its capital stock of 82 billion won at the end of June this year. If the company receives payments from investors later this week, its capital stock and shareholders’ equity will roughly increase to 111.8 billion won and 297.9 billion won, respectively.

“The proceeds from the rights issue will give us time to weather the pandemic,” an Air Busan official said. “It will take more time until flights recover to pre-pandemic levels, but hopes are up that international passenger traffic will increase.”

Asiana Airlines earlier this month expected that more than 1,000 people will travel to Saipan by the end of this year through its flights from Incheon to the vacation destination as travel demand recovers with more people vaccinated.

It is notable that Busan Metropolitan City participated in the latest rights issue. Busan Metropolitan City is one of the initial investors in the airline, with about a 5% stake originally. But its stake has been diluated as the airline went public in 2018 and Busan Metropolitan City also did not participate in the airline’s rights issue in 2020.

“Bureaucratic procedures have probably made Busan Metropolitan City difficult to participate in the rights issue last year,” said the Air Busan official. “With the latest deal, Busan Metropolitan City is expected to hold roughly a 3% stake in Air Busan.” (Reporting by Doung Yang)