Air Mauritius officially withdraws from the Mauritius Stock Exchange
As the main shareholder of Air Mauritius (MK) since September 2021, Airport Holdings Ltd (AHL) has progressively acquired the shares of its other partners, until it has 94.04% of the capital of the Mauritian national airline. As planned, AHL finally bought back the 5.06% of the assets of the reluctant minority shareholders.
As of this Friday, April 1, 2022, Air Mauritius is no longer listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Indeed, the Mauritian public flagship withdrew from the Mauritian Stock Exchange yesterday, at the close of the market. "The Board of Directors of Air Mauritius Limited has decided not to restore the percentage of public shares in Air Mauritius Limited to 25%, in accordance with Listing Rule 6.21," the company wrote in a statement issued on Wednesday 30 March.
"Following the compulsory acquisition of the shares of the dissenting shareholders of Air Mauritius Limited in accordance with Rule 39 of the Takeover Rules by Airport Holdings Limited, Air Mauritius Limited no longer meets the requirements of the Listing Rules for its listing on the official market," it said.
The board also promises to publish, by 31 October 2022, under the Securities Act 2005, the financial statements and audited accounts for the company's financial years ending 31 March 2020 and 31 March 2021.
MK was placed in receivership in April 2020 and in September 2021 it received a rescue package of $282 million. Under this plan, Airport Holdings Ltd (AHL) became its new main shareholder, gradually acquiring the shares held by Air Mauritius Holding (40.4%), Airports of Mauritius Ltd (20.9%), the Mauritian government (6.6%), State Investment Corporation (3.6%), Rogers and Company (3.4%), Air France (2.2%), Air India (2%) and the National Pensions Fund (1.6%), as well as other small shareholders.
With 94.04% of Air Mauritius' shares up to now, all that remained for Airport Holdings to do was to acquire the shares of the resistant shareholders (at 5.80 rupees per share) to take full control. This has now been achieved.
