Johannesburg | Tuesday
AN initial public offering (IPO) of domestic carrier South African Airways (SAA) will be postponed for at least two years because of its shaky finances and poor market conditions, a leading newspaper said on Tuesday.
Leslie Maasdorp, head of restructuring in the public enterprises department, told a business conference in Stellenbosch on Monday that it would be inadvisable to take SAA to the market ”when the jury is still out on its long-term profit turnaround,” the Business Day newspaper said.
Maasdorp and other government officials were not immediately available for comment.
The government said in May that the IPO — expected to involve a listing of between 20 and 30% of the financial troubled airline — would take place in 2002.
Release of the airline’s results for fiscal 2001 have been delayed and are expected later this month, with analysts predicting a loss of between R250-million R600-million for the year.
The airline — which is 20% owned by the Swissair Group — announced an operating profit of R350-million for the previous year after several successive years of losses.
SAA flew into a storm of controversy earlier this year over a salary and separation allowance paid to departing chief executive Coleman Andrews. – Reuters