Wizz Air’s largest investor sells £400m stake in carrier
Wizz Air’s largest shareholder has sold half of its stake in the Hungarian airline for £400m, it was announced this morning.
Private equity firm Indigo Partners had owned 17.5 per cent of the FTSE 250 flier, but will now have a stake of about 8.5 per cent.
The sale was carried out via an accelerated bookbuild process at a price of 5,200p per placing share. Wizz Air shares closed at 5,505p yesterday.
Barclays, which is coordinating the placing, said that it would complete on 18 March.
The airline will not receive any proceeds from the sale, it added.
Like the rest of the sector, Wizz Air is eagerly awaiting the potential restart of travel on 17 May.
It has done better than many of its rivals through the pandemic, having opened new bases and networks over the last year.
Even if flying does not return en masse this year, the carrier insists that it has enough cash to tide it over until travel rebounds.
Shares in the carrier fell 6.2 per cent as markets opened this morning.