The Tui Group wants to use fresh money from investors to further reduce the scope of its Corona state aid. The newly planned shares should make up up to a tenth of the share capital. The increase in bookings in the summer will also be decisive for the company.
According to information from Tuesday evening, up to 162.3 million additional shares are expected to be issued – the corresponding income would then flow into the “full repayment of the German state’s silent contribution 2”, as it was said in Hanover. Tui AG announced on Wednesday night that the new shares, each priced at EUR 2.62, generated gross proceeds of around EUR 425 million.
The state aid is a partial package worth 671 million euros that the federal economic stabilization fund made available when Tui came under considerable financial pressure in the pandemic due to collapsing business. With the implementation of the planned step, the company would have paid for another tranche of government support. The world’s largest tour operator also wants to reduce a credit line from KfW by another 336 million euros, which would then be a good 2.1 billion euros.
Tui had increased its capital several times in the past few months and also returned the first loan packages. Last week, CEO Fritz Joussen announced additional steps for the interim balance of the winter half-year (October to March): “That will happen quickly.” At the beginning of April, the group had the funds provided by the federal government and private banks to combat the financial consequences of Corona reduced by around 700 million euros from just under 4.3 billion euros.
In addition to the remaining EUR 2.1 billion KfW credit line, there would be a second silent participation (EUR 420 million) after the planned repayment, as well as the convertible bond issued some time ago, which the federal government can exchange for shares (EUR 59 million). . The now newly planned shares should make up up to a tenth of the share capital – they are aimed exclusively at larger, institutional investors.
At the beginning of May, Tui – including the credit lines – had 3.8 billion euros in financial resources. The net debt was just over a month earlier at around 3.9 billion euros, they had recently fallen significantly. Joussen reported strong booking growth for the important summer of 2022, Tui is dependent on higher demand after two weak years with Corona travel slack.
