Last checked at 
* Restructuring plan for airline approved
* Former execs to infuse equity of 500 mln rand
* Airline likely to start operations by Dec
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Former board members and
executives of South Africa's Comair Ltd will buy out
the airline in a restructuring process, the company said on
Friday, clearing the way for the private carrier to take off
again by December.
Creditors and shareholders of the airline, which had been
under a form of bankruptcy protection, were to approve a
restructuring plan of the company by Friday.
"The vast majority of creditors and shareholders voted to
adopt the business rescue plan," the company said, adding that
former Comair board members and executives will invest fresh
equity of 500 million rand ($30.76 million) in return for a 99%
shareholding.
The struggling airline, which operates the British Airways
franchise in South Africa and budget airline
Kulula.com, was forced to halt all activities in March after
South Africa imposed a countrywide lockdown to curb the spread
of coronavirus. It cut away Comair's cashflows and forced it
into a form of bankruptcy protection in May.
The administrators of the restructuring process presented a
plan earlier in September which said they had identified
investors who would inject fresh equity into the company.
The approved rescue plan also entails 600 million rand in
fresh loans from its lenders, a deferred payment of 800 million
rand and delisting from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE),
the company said.
Glenn Orsmond, a former joint chief executive and
representing the group infusing equity capital, said in the
statement Comair plans to start operations by December under
both the British Airways and Kulula brands.
Should everything go according to plan the business rescue
process should be concluded by Mar. 31, the company said.
"There may still be a few bumps on the way ahead, however,
now that the plan is adopted, at last clearer skies are now in
sight," Wrenelle Stander, Comair's chief executive said.
($1 = 16.2548 rand)
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
