Skymark Airlines (BC, Tokyo Haneda) is looking into the possibility of raising several billion yen in fresh capital via the placement of new shares with an undisclosed investment fund. In a statement issued last week, the Japanese LCC said it would call a shareholder meeting at an as-yet-undecided date in the future to gain approval for a capital increase. The meeting had originally been scheduled to be held late December only to be moved to February 18.
The move is the latest in a series of purported deals linked to the carrier's dire financial situation. Last week, the airline's stock tumbled after a report in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said talks about a capital injection deal with ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) had collapsed.
Quoting unnamed sources close to the negotiations, the paper claimed executives from the two airlines failed to reach an agreement on the terms of the investment deal during negotiations last week.
Skymark, however, denied any such negotiations had ever taken place.
"It is not true that we requested a capital injection (from ANA) and we don't plan to do so," a company spokeswoman said.
Skymark has been in expedited talks with both JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) and ANA - All Nippon over planned codeshare flights. Once ironed out, the agreements should kick in in March and would provide the carrier with up to USD100million in additional revenue - critical to its future survival.
Since the cancellation of an order for six A380-800s in June last year, Skymark has been on the financial backfoot facing over JPY70billion (USD682million) in cancellation claims from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac). The Europeans launched proceedings against the Japanese carrier in a British court late last year worsening Skymark's situation further.
An airline executive has claimed that Skymark has managed to find a buyer for spare engines and training equipment for the A380 that it no longer needs.
