Avianca Taca has announced plans to offer one billion preferential shares worth a total of $283.6 million, equivalent to 11% of the Colombian business consortium’s value, Spanish news agency EFE reported Monday.
The shares are to be awarded to 47,554 people, all of them either frequent fliers or employees of the Colombian-Salvadorean company.
The price of the shares, which will not come with the benefit of voting rights in company affairs, is $2.83 per title, which the company will begin offering in the Bogota Stock Exchange on May 11.
In March, the company offered 100 shares at a unit price of $2.67 each.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, President of Avianca Taca, Fabio Villegas, said that $260 million of the $400 million the consortium hopes to raise from this stock offering will be used to counter expansion by Chilean rival LAN, which recently bought Colombian low-cost carrier Aires.
Avianca Taca will use the rest of the money for expansion, which includes the integration of hubs in Bogota, Lima, San Salvador and San Jose.
The past success of Avianca Taca shares is a strong sign of the company’s credibility and recognition by hundreds of people, said Villegas.
“Our strategy in competing with LAN and the market in general is to move forward with our plan of expansion. The share issuance will work in our favor in getting international financing,” said the president.