The Sissener Canopus AS fund has significantly reduced its holdings in the low-cost airline Norwegian, reports Dagens Næringsliv with reference to new ownership lists.

”"After the company suddenly proposed to postpone its bond loans, we have reduced the risk," manager Jan Petter Sissener tells the newspaper.

According to DN.no, the fund, which was the ninth largest owner in Norwegian before the sale, has reduced its holding from approximately 1.4 million shares to just over 890,000 shares. The sale took place at an average price of 33.5 Norwegian kroner, which means that the item was worth a total of around 17 million Norwegian kroner, equivalent to 18.4 million Swedish kronor.

The newspaper notes that share sales that have occurred during the last three trading days are not reflected in the statistics, and Jan Petter Sissener himself states that he has "largely" halved the fund's holdings.

The reason for the sale, according to Jan Petter Sissener, is that Norwegian has asked holders of two bond loans to postpone the maturity date. Sissener is one of the largest holders of one of the loans that matures in December, and already last weekend expressed great skepticism about the company's strategy.

”"What is wrong with Norwegian is the capital structure with too much debt and too little equity. Something has to be done about that," Jan Petter Sissener told DN at the time.

He advocates a larger capital injection from the owners as a better solution.

”"We would like to see a larger issue that settles the balance once and for all.".

Norwegian shares are down just over 3 percent in early trading in Oslo on Monday morning. So far this year, the stock has fallen 68 percent.

Source: di.se