Shareholders in BAE Systems set for windfall from airline float
Investors in BAE Systems might be in line for a windfall of lots of of hundreds of thousands of kilos within the inventory market flotation of Kazakhstan’s nationwide airline.
The defence large is pondering whether or not to make use of the jackpot to pay shareholders a one-off dividend or use the cash it is going to obtain when Air Astana lists in London to fund much more share buybacks, The Mail on Sunday understands.
This could be on prime of its an enormous current share buyback programme.
BAE has a 49 per cent stake within the Kazakh airline, which can be valued at as a lot as £780 million when it goes public. While BAE plans to maintain a stake in Air Astana, it may nonetheless reap an enormous windfall.
As the UK’s greatest defence contractor, BAE grew to become an investor in 2001 when it was pursuing a deal to promote its radar techniques to the Kazakh army.
Windfall: BAE has a 49 per cent stake within the Kazakh airline, which can be valued at as a lot as £780 million when it goes public
Though the deal fell by, BAE saved the stake, purchased for £7 million. That proved astute – even when the holding is value as little because the £63 million valuation BAE placed on it final yr.
The itemizing is anticipated subsequent month and has buoyed the London Stock Exchange, which noticed a dearth of flotations final yr.
It will increase BAE’s coffers at a time when income are already hovering and its order e book is at document ranges, partly because of the warfare in Ukraine.
BAE, which has greater than 93,000 employees in 40 or so international locations, has grow to be an enormous submarine provider and can be main a consortium to develop the UK’s subsequent era of fighter jet, the Tempest.
