Sun Country Airlines on Monday revealed new details about its initial public offering, saying it aims to raise more than $200 million and will use some of the money to pay off pandemic crisis loans from the federal government.
Sun Country reveals new details about IPO, aims to raise more than $200M
Twin Cities-based airline hopes to raise at least $200M, offering shares for $21 to $23 apiece.
March 8, 2021 at 9:58PM
The company, based at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, will offer 9.1 million shares of common stock at an expected price of $21 to $23 each. An additional 1.3 million shares will likely be available to its underwriters within the first month of the listing.
The company expects to raise between $200 million and $240.4 million from the offering. A listing date hasn't been set.
Sun Country's owners — funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management — initially registered the Minnesota-based airline with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in early February. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol SNCY.
Monday's filing, updated with pricing, moves the airline closer to its IPO.
Sun Country is pitching itself to investors as a new breed of airline that balances three revenue streams: commercial passenger service, contract cargo operations and charter flights.
The airline plans to use proceeds to cover accounting and filing fees incurred in the IPO process and to pay off the $45 million federal loan it received under the CARES Act last year. The remaining proceeds from the IPO will be used as management sees fit.
Chief Executive Jude Bricker has outlined a strategy of growing its route network to be less dependent on its home market, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and to transition the fleet from leased to owned aircraft, among other things.
Even after the IPO, Apollo will maintain control of Sun Country with more than a 50% stake. Apollo purchased Sun Country in April 2018 from Minnesota businessmen Mitch and Marty Davis.
The airline, which specializes in providing Minnesotans with trips to leisure destinations, scaled back its operations after the pandemic hit last spring. Sun Country estimates it preserved $152 million in liquidity with the cutbacks, which included job suspensions.
By summer, it began to rebuild its revenue stream with a new cargo service for Amazon Inc., which had been negotiated before the virus hit.
Among the details in its stock-listing document, Sun Country disclosed that Amazon has a right to nominate someone to the airline's board of directors for as long as the cargo service contract is in effect.
Kristen Leigh Painter • 612-673-4767
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