Etihad Airways is moving along with a possible initial public offering, the first for a major airline in the Middle East, in a listing that would help the Abu Dhabi flag carrier raise additional funds to expand.
“We’re working very hard to make it happen whenever it is the time,” Chief Executive Officer Antonoaldo Neves said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the IATA annual general meeting in Dubai. An IPO “is never an endgame, it’s just another source for us to raise capital.”
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Etihad has managed to turn itself around after an ill-fated expansion spree a decade ago saddled it with huge losses and stakes in unprofitable regional carriers. Now, Neves said he’s been told by the owners to run the company as if it were listed, improving its financial performance and corporate governance. Any decision for an eventual IPO would lie with shareholders, he said.
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The carrier has picked banks for the potential IPO, which could raise as much as $1 billion, Bloomberg reported in May. The deal will create the first publicly-traded major Gulf hub carrier and comes amid a rebound in international travel following the pandemic.
Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ and competes for transfer traffic with Dubai’s Emirates and Qatar Airways, reported record profit in the first quarter amid surging demand for travel.
Emirates and Qatar Airways are also state-owned. Emirates President Tim Clark said in an interview at the Dubai gathering on Sunday that “the temptation is there” to consider an IPO for his airline, though there are no plans for the time being to consider such a move.
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Published: 03 Jun 2024, 01:22 PM IST
