It appears in the accounts of HBK Holding, the company owned by Bjørn Kjos and the family and Bjørn H. Kise. Tore Kjos also owns a small position in the company.
The shares this company owned in the airline Norwegian had a book value of NOK 967.9 million at the beginning of the year. HBK sold these during 2020.
Increased bank debt
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Before Kjos and Kise eased out the Norwegian shares, which this year have plummeted in value due to the corona crisis and the accompanying rescue operation in the airline, HBK Holding raised more loans in the bank.
The accounts show that HBK Holding at the end of 2019 had a debt to credit institutions of NOK 885 million, compared with close to NOK 690 million at the end of 2018.
As collateral for the debt, the shares in Norwegian were pledged as security.
At the end of last year, HBK Holding had equity of around NOK 660 million.
Large Norwegian debt
Norwegian has long had large debts, after a number of years of expansion and heavy investments. Then came the corona crisis, and the company suddenly lost its revenue. The share plummeted, Norwegian, like other airlines, needed support from the state and the company had to negotiate with the lenders.
The crisis, coupled with a large conversion of debt to equity, has led to Norwegian’s share price falling from NOK 37.75 at the end of 2019 to NOK 0.68 when the stock exchange closed on Wednesday.
Sold at a loss
In 2020, HBK Holding sold all the shares it owned in Norwegian at New Year’s with a further loss of NOK 587.7 million.
Kjos and Kise have thus realized the Norwegian shares for approximately NOK 380 million in 2020. In comparison, the value of the duo’s ownership in 2018, according to the bid proposal from competitor IAG, was at most more than NOK 3 billion, according to DN’s calculations.
Kjos resigned as CEO of Norwegian on 11 July 2019, after 17 years at the helm. Kise, who has previously been chairman of the board, resigned in May of the same year.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other form of use of all or part of the content, can only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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