The directives of Aviancathe flagship airline of the Colombian market, have manifested in recent weeks their iintention to return to international stock markets. This is happening now that the company’s numbers are back in positive territory; Mainly, the revenues due to the change in the global aviation landscape.

(Also read: Avianca plans to sell shares on the New York or London stock exchanges)

Adrián Neuhauser, president of the Avianca Group.

Said for the first time Adrian Neuhauser, President of Avianca, in mid-February, as an initiative promoted by the Abra Group, but more recently, María Cristina Ricardo, Avianca’s director of investor relations, pointed out that said group is planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to support the growth of the organization.

As recalled, Avianca Group International filed for bankruptcy during the covid-19 pandemic. At the time, the airline’s directives argued that: «Despite the effective resolution of the debt in 2019 and the successful execution of its «Avianca 2021» plan until mid-March, The speed and drastic escalation of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis have led the Company to file for Chapter 11 in New York, United States«.

(It may also interest you: Viva needs US $ 32.4 million to resume operations the first week of May)

But the company’s situation is increasingly far from what it was a few years ago, especially in view of the consolidation of the Abra Group, which includes other companies in the region, such as the Brazilian Gol.

Thus, under the umbrella of Abra is that they plan to land on the stock markets of the United States and the United Kingdom.

«Avianca has been doing quite well lately,» Serguei Goncharov, an investor at Vontobel Asset Management in Miami, told the Bloomberg agency. «Driven by global travel’s overall massive renewed operation, its much smaller capital structure, and management’s ongoing effort to optimize business.»

The new owners of the company are the holders of issued bonds and those who finance the rescue of Avianza

Photo:

Mauricio Moreno / EL TIEMPO

What former shareholders expect

The news of Avianca’s eventual return to the stock markets did not go unnoticed among some former investors who kept shares of the airline after the crisis that led the company to declare bankruptcy and its titles to lose value, thus leaving thousands of people seeing a spark, as it is said in popular slang.

The problem is that they will have to continue to settle for the actions in their power to prove without any validitydespite what was announced by the Avianca directives, according to the analysts consulted.

(Keep reading: Viva needs US$32.4 million to reopen the first week of May)

And they will continue to be worth ‘0’ because, as is recalled, after the airline’s financial debacle, there was a reorganization of the airline and those who ultimately ended up owning Avianca were the company’s bondholders who invested in the salvage of the company.

Avianca’s bonds due 2028 have generated returns of more than 15 percent for investors this year, more than almost any company in Latin America, according to a Bloomberg index. They also outperformed a return of about 5 percent on a risk-level airline bond index, the agency said.

Under this circumstance, those who currently have Avianca shares will not have any fruit or opportunity in this new takeoff of the airline, say those consulted, because the value of those shares will not change.

They explain that This company that will be listed on the New York and Wall Street stock exchanges is different, there is a new company name (Grupo Abra), its shareholding composition in which these bondholders now appear and not the former partners.

«It was a kind of refounding of the company,» commented an expert in market shares, who, due to the sensitivity of the issue, asked not to be mentioned.

(Keep reading: More than $6.4 billion to search for white hydrogen potential in Colombia)

From the airline it was not possible to obtain a position on the situation of the former shareholders. They indicated that, compared to what was recently announced by their directives, there are no more details or news about how and when the new company would be listed on the stock market.