Coronavirus: Cathay Pacific overhaul set to begin as shareholders overwhelmingly back HK$39 billion Hong Kong government-led bailout package
- Cathay chairman Patrick Healy says overhaul of the business will take ‘a couple of months’
- Bailout package wins support of 99 per cent of shareholders
After the meeting, which lasted little more than 15 minutes, Cathay chairman Patrick Healy told the Post the overhaul of the business would take “a couple of months”, offering a more specific time frame on how soon the airline could decide on its cost-saving measures.
“The first priority was to get the recapitalisation done and it’s great to get this far and we hope to get shareholder support and then we’ll move onto the deliberations of the restructuring,” he said, before the results of the vote.
01:27
HK$30 billion bailout for Cathay Pacific is necessary, Hong Kong government says
Healy said Cathay would evaluate the company’s structure, network, fleet and the impact on “the team and organisation”.
It had yet to come to “any final conclusion” on a broad restructuring that would conclude in the fourth quarter of this year to determine its future size and shape in a post-pandemic world.
Key shareholders Swire Pacific, Air China and Qatar Airways control 84.98 per cent of the company, and the trio offered “irrevocable undertakings” to the issuance of new shares last month.
Shareholders overwhelmingly backed the government-led bailout package on Monday with 99 per cent voting in favour.