Fiji Airways today announced that it has renegotiated its loan from the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF), with the new loan amount now being more than $60m lower than the original agreed loan facility of $181.2m.
In late 2013, Fiji Airways opted not to draw down $35.5m of the original loan due to successes in raising money from European banks for its A330 acquisition, combined with strong cash generation over the recent financial year. In addition to scheduled capital repayments, Fiji Airways has now opted to make an additional early pre-payment of just under $19m, bringing the new loan facility down to $120m.
Stefan Pichler, Fiji Airways’ Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer said: “As said before, I am very happy that we are able to repay this loan faster than stipulated in the original agreement with FNPF. We are pleased to move into a new phase of our business partnership with FNPF as a ‘win-win’ refinancing of a lower capital amount. While we of course have to abide by our confidential commercial arrangement clauses, both Fiji Airways and FNPF understand the public interest surrounding the loan which allowed us to make initial down-payments on our new A330s. I would like to reiterate that we have been diligent on following our repayment schedule strictly, on-time, and now ahead of time bringing the loan down to two thirds of the original loan amount.”
FNPF CEO, Mr. Aisake Taito, said that the conduct of this account has been a success for FNPF members. “The successful delivery of the 3 aircraft, the decision by Fiji Airways not to fully draw the initial loan amount by over $35m, and the early repayment of $19m have reduced the risk of this lending. These were the key bases for the loan restructure,” said Mr. Taito. As reiterated in our earlier comments, the loan to Fiji Airways was secured in the best interest of our members. “FNPF is pleased to be in partnership with Fiji Airways and to help in their strategic development which benefits Fiji and the whole economy,” he concluded.
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