November 19, 2019: Finally, Kenya’s National Treasury is planning to close the buyout of Kenya Airways (KQ) by the end of next year.
The buyout plan comes after the State House Kenya voted in July to nationalise the carrier and save it from mounting debts.
The airline has proposed a model similar to Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines, which operate as units of state-owned holding companies.
Under the model, KQ will become one of four subsidiaries in a state-owned aviation holding company.
KQ is 48.9 percent state-owned, 38.1 (lenders), 7.8 percent (Air France-KLM), 2.4 percent (Kenya Airways) employees, and 2.8 percent (individual investors).
The market valuation puts the lenders’ stake at Sh6 billion, Air France-KLM (Sh1.23 billion), Kenya Airways employees (Sh380 million) and investors (Sh443 million).