Japan Airlines to Raise US$8.5bn in Re-listing
Japan Airlines (JAL) announced plans for a share sale, two years after receiving a government-backed bailout in what was Japan’s biggest bankruptcy by a non-financial company. The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) approved the re-listing, which is expected to raise ¥663bn (US$8.5bn; £5.5bn).
The airline’s current owner, the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation (ETIC), said that it will sell 175 million shares on 19 September at a tentative price of ¥3,790 each. The ETIC became the largest shareholder in JAL under a restructuring of the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010 and was de-listed from the TSE. The airline’s share price finished ask-only at ¥1 on the last trading the day before the delisting on 20 February 2010. The ETIC provided a capital injection of ¥350bn, and cut jobs, retired aircraft and reduced JAL’s debt as part of a turnaround.
“We have made every effort to move forward to our goal of restarting as a true private sector company as soon as possible; which we believe is our responsibility to all stakeholders who have supported us, and to all the people in the nation, who are our customers,” said JAL’s president, Yoshiharu Ueki.
The revival of JAL’s was headed by philanthropist and entrepreneur Kazuo Inamori, who was persuaded to take on the position of chief executive officer (CEO) of the airline in January 2010 by friends in Japan’s ruling political party. He introduced his cost-controlling philosophy dubbed ‘amoeba management’, which was outlined in a 125-page booklet entitled ‘JAL Philosophy’, which was carried by all of the airline’s 32,000 remaining employees.