Jazeera Airways rights issue over subscribed 2.25 times

Jazeera Airways Group today announced the successful closing of its rights issue of 178 million shares, effectively raising the company’s capital by 74% to KD42 million. The rights issue was oversubscribed 2.25 times. The additional funds that resulted from the oversubscription will not be called for.

Shares were available to shareholders as of December 16, 2012 and at a nominal value of 100 Kuwaiti fils. The subscription period ended on December 31, 2012.

Jazeera Airways Group Chairman Marwan Boodai said, “The oversubscription was one of the most successful rights issues in Kuwait in recent years, breaking the USD150 million barrier. This result reflects a clear investor appetite for being part of our company’s success story and statement of confidence in our management team.”
 
In November, Jazeera Airways announced a record Q3 net profit of KD7.6 million, up 24.6% from the same period last year, as well as its best nine-month results for the year of KD11.4 million, up 23.6% from same period last year. The Group’s 9-month earnings in 2012 exceeded full-year 2011’s recording earnings by KD0.8 million

Jazeera Airways Group comprises a fleet of 15 A320 aircraft, 12 of which are already delivered and placed. The remaining aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and 2014.

The 12 delivered aircraft are distributed between its airline business (Jazeera Airways, operating seven aircraft), and its fully-owned leasing business (Sahaab Aircraft Leasing, operating five aircraft). Sahaab has assets placed with Virgin America and SriLankan Airlines.

Jazeera Airways is an IATA member airline and operates one of the youngest Airbus A320 fleet in the Middle East.