Denmark’s new finance minister, Kristian Jensen, has said that the government would be willing to sell off stakes in state-owned assets, including SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) and Copenhagen Kastrup airport.
The three-way coalition government of Denmark was formed last month. In a manifesto released at the time, the three parties agreed that “the state should not own companies that are in direct competition with private companies.” Speaking with Bloomberg, Jensen expressed the cabinet’s willingness to sell anything it doesn’t deem essential infrastructure. The sentiment echoes that of Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Mæland, who said "there are no good reasons why the state should own an airline."
The Danish government holds a 14% stake in SAS and 39.2% of Copenhagen airport. It did not take part in an earlier sell off of the Scandinavian airline in which partners Sweden and Norway reduced their shareholdings from 21% and 14%, down to 17.2% and 11.5%, respectively.
