Indigo Partners LLC ("Indigo Partners") today announces that investment funds managed by it intend to sell, through Indigo Hungary LP and Indigo Maple Hill, L.P. (the "Indigo Shareholders"), up to £500 million of ordinary shares ("Placing Shares") in Wizz Air Holdings Plc ("WIZZ" or the "Company", ticker "WIZZ"). The Placing Shares will be offered by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering (the "Bookbuild") to institutional investors only (the "Placing").
The Bookbuild will commence immediately following the publication of this announcement and may be closed at short notice. A further announcement will be made following completion of the Bookbuild, which will contain the number of Placing Shares and the gross proceeds from the Placing. Indigo Partners and the Indigo Shareholders reserve the right, at their discretion, to determine and vary the number of Placing Shares sold in the Placing, or sell no Placing Shares at all.
As of today, the Indigo Shareholders own 15,000,000 ordinary shares in WIZZ, representing 20.6% of the issued ordinary share capital and voting rights in the Company. The Indigo Shareholders also hold convertible shares and convertible notes in WIZZ as detailed in WIZZ's 2019 Annual Report and Accounts and subsequent regulatory filings. The number of ordinary shares the Indigo Shareholders will hold after the Placing will be announced following completion of the Bookbuild.
As the Indigo Shareholders are Non-Qualifying Nationals for the purposes of the EU ownership and control rules, the Placing will, at a minimum, maintain WIZZ's current level of EEA qualifying ownership, but more likely increase Qualifying National ownership, subject to the allocation of the Placing Shares. Applications for shares in the Placing by Qualifying Nationals will be strongly prioritised in the allocation process.
The Indigo Shareholders have engaged Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, J.P. Morgan Securities plc, which conducts its UK investment banking activities as J.P. Morgan Cazenove, and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc as bookrunners (the "Joint Bookrunners") in connection with the Placing. Subject to customary exceptions, the Indigo Shareholders will not make additional sales of shares for 90 days without the consent of the Joint Bookrunners. In addition, the Indigo Shareholders may sell additional shares to a private equity sponsor or strategic investor provided the purchaser is then subject to the same lock-up terms as the Indigo Shareholders.
The Company will not receive any proceeds from the Placing.