Thailand’s Central Bankruptcy Court has accepted Thai Airways International (THAI)’s restructuring filing on Wednesday.
Creditors will now be unable to collect debts from THAI while the case is still open.
The court case will be on August 17.
THAI is also expected to file for protection under Chapter 11 in the United States. About 49 per cent of THAI’s 200 billion baht debt is owed to foreign creditors, mainly in the US, England and Germany.
The court’s next step is to appoint a planner. Creditors will first have to agree on one before the court can approve it.
After, the planner will have three months to complete a draft of the rehabilitation plan. Once the plan is concluded, creditors will then vote on it and the court will need to approve it again.
The process repeats until the plan is finally approved by the court – or THAI will have to file for bankruptcy if the plan fails.
The Ministry of Finance transferred 3.17 per cent last week to state-backed Vayupak fund. That is approximately 69 million THAI shares at a price of 4.03 baht per share, worth 278.8 million baht.
This means that the flagship carrier is no longer a state-owned enterprise.
The MOF currently holds 47.86 per cent of THAI shares. Two publicly traded Vayupak mutual funds retain 15 per cent, while 2 per cent of THAI shares are being held by state-owned Government Savings Bank.
THAI share prices stood at 22.7 baht per share just four years ago at the end of December 2016, when THAI assets were worth 49.55 billion baht and the ministry was holding about a 25.29 billion baht cut.
With loss-making in previous years, the share price tumbled down to about 6.85 baht per share at the end of December 2019.
The coronavirus pandemic forced the flagship airline to enter its rehabilitation plan to a bankruptcy court. This took the price down to 4.9 baht per share on May 22.
The share price, however, went up by 12.9 per cent to 4.90 baht in trade worth 185.3 million baht on Tuesday. The market then closed and the news broke that THAI has already filed its restructuring plan.
On Wednesday, THAI’s share price went up by 4.08 per cent from the opening of 4.94 baht to 5.1
baht per share during the morning session after the court accepted the filing.
