The board of directors of FLC Group released a resolution approving the transfer of Bamboo Airways (BAV) shares to Le Thai Sam, a member of the board of directors of the airline.

FLC will transfer more than 400 million BAV, or 21.7 percent of capital in Bamboo Airways, to Sam, in exchange for a full debt settlement between the two parties.

Together with the share transfer, Sam will give non-refundable aid to FLC.

At Bamboo Airways’ extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on May 9, Sam said from 2022 to April 10, 2023, he provided an unsecured loan of VND7.727 trillion (both in principal and interest).

Sam owns 231.7 million BAV, or 12.53 percent of the charter capital of the air carrier. As such, if counting the shares to be transferred by FLC, he will hold up to 34 percent of Bamboo Airways’ capital.

Sam asked the airline’s president to organize an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to submit a plan to privately issue shares to raise capital.

Sam suggested that Bamboo Airways issue 1.15 billion BAV more, or VND11.5 trillion, to raise charter capital to VND30 trillion from VND18.5 trillion currently.  of this, 772 million shares, worth VND7.72 trillion, would be exchanged with creditors, and 378 million shares would be issued to strategic investors.

According to Sam, issuing shares to swap debts is a necessity to ensure the legitimate rights and benefits of creditors who lent money to Bamboo Airways without collateral.

Under the plan, the subjects to be issued shares are Bamboo Airways' creditors who can satisfy requirements: they provided unsecured loans with total outstanding loans of VND1 trillion or higher and have demand to convert the debts into shares. 

Strategic investors are the institutions and individuals with financial capability or business experience that the board of directors believes can bring benefits and support the company. After buying the shares, strategic investors would become the shareholders of the airline, holding more than 5 percent of Bamboo Airways’ capital.

Sam suggested that it would be better not to offer shares to all existing shareholders, but only to strategic shareholders and investors who can satisfy all the above said criteria.

The National Citizen Bank (NCB), which is holding 203 million BAV (11 percent), said it is planning to sell all the shares to collect debts.

Manh Ha