Low-cost Thai carrier NokScoot has received a promissory note from a major Nok Air shareholder, for the value of a Bt200 million ($6.56 million) loan.
The shareholder and issuer of the loan, who owns around a quarter of Nok Air, has been identified Hatairatn Jurangkool – the mother of Nok Air’s chief executive, Wutthiphoom Jurangkool.
In a disclosure to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Nok says the one-year note was issued on 12 December 2019 and will be used by NokScoot for working capital and general operation purposes.
The shareholder loan was approved at Nok’s board meeting held on 23 January.
The loan carries an interest of 6.3%, which is below the average minimum loan rate of 6.93% offered by locally registered commercial banks. No collateral was required from NokScoot.
“The interest rate is adjacent to financial institution’s interest rate and flexible to manage the subsidiary’s liquidity and match with the cash flow projection plan,” Nok says.
Nok Air and Singapore’s Scoot each own a 49% stake in NokScoot, while the remaining 2% is held by Pueannammitr Company, a firm that represents four Nok Air representatives. In 2018, NokScoot received a Bt1 billion capital injection from the three companies.
For the third quarter of 2019, NokScoot posted a larger operating loss of Bt593 million, having added two Boeing 777-200s to its fleet. Revenue rose 11.4% to Bt1.6 billion, but net loss swelled to Bt535 million.
