SAS's restructuring in the US resulted in costs of over SEK 6 billion, according to an investigation by the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv. The sum consists of two main items: more than SEK 3 billion in fees to advisors and just over SEK 3 billion in interest and fees on the loans that financed the restructuring.
SAS began its Chapter 11 process in the US in the summer of 2022 and completed the reconstruction in 2024. According to Dagens Næringsliv, DN, the total financial burden was significantly greater than the cost of the reconstruction work itself as previously communicated.
DN calculates two different types of costs. One is fees to financial and legal advisors, which according to the newspaper exceeded 3 billion kronor. The other is financing costs, i.e. interest and fees on the loans that SAS took out to be able to carry out the reconstruction. These also amounted to just over 3 billion kronor.
It is when these two items are added together that DN arrives at a cost of over 6 billion SEK.
Over 3 billion to advisors
The first major cost item concerns the financial and legal advisors who worked on the Chapter 11 process.
According to Dagens Næringsliv, SAS paid a total of more than SEK 3 billion in such fees.
Financial advisor Seabury Capital was one of the larger recipients. According to court documents cited by DN, Seabury received around $55 million, equivalent to around SEK 540 million, in hourly fees between the summer of 2022 and the fall of 2024.
In addition, according to the newspaper, Seabury received about the same amount in other fees and success-based fees. In total, this amounts to about one billion kronor.
In addition, in 2023, SAS hired Seabury partner Ginger Hughes as head of the company's restructuring.
Over 3 billion to finance the process
The other major cost item is not the advisory fees but the cost of the loans that SAS needed during the reconstruction.
According to SAS's annual reports for 2023 and 2024, interest and other fees linked to the restructuring financing amounted to just over SEK 3 billion over two years.
Dagens Næringsliv estimates that the lender Apollo Capital received at least half of these payments.
– For SAS, it looks extremely expensive, says finance professor Bjørn Espen Eckbo, who has researched the financing of Chapter 11 processes, to Dagens Næringsliv.
Therefore, the amounts differ
The difference from the approximately 2 billion SEK that SAS has previously communicated lies in what is included in the cost.
DN's total of over SEK 6 billion includes both costs for advisors and costs for financing the Chapter 11 process. This means that the amounts are not directly comparable without taking into account which cost items are included.
SAS press officer Øystein Schmidt tells the newspaper that the Chapter 11 process was absolutely necessary.
Seabury Capital continues to work with restructurings in the aviation industry and was most recently hired by Latvian Air Baltic in connection with the company's recently initiated restructuring process.
Source: DI.SE
