Finnair and the State of Finland signed an agreement on a hybrid loan of maximum of 400 million euros to support Finnair due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2021. In April 2022, the hybrid loan instrument was converted to a capital loan that was deemed an equity instrument. Both arrangements had the approval of the EU Commission’s competition authority in line with the European Union’s state aid rules. Finnair drew down the entire amount of 400 million euros during 2022.
In Finnair's rights offering of 570 million euros executed in November 2023, the State of Finland subscribed for its pro rata share of the new shares on the basis of subscription rights allocated to it. The State of Finland paid the subscription price of the shares by offsetting it against a corresponding amount of the principal of the capital loan. This totalled 318.6 million euros. Finnair has today repaid the remainder of the capital loan, i.e. 81.4 million euros, to the State of Finland. In addition, Finnair paid the related interest and other fees of 48.9 million euros to the State.
If the capital loan had not been repaid, it would have accrued approximately 52 million euros in interest and other fees in 2024.
After the repayment of the capital loan and the previously repaid hybrid bond, the company has no loans that are deemed equity capital.