FastJet Plc (FJET) said that Stelios Haji-Ioannou plans to boost his holding in the African discount-airline startup to 5.81 percent from under 3 percent.
Haji-Ioannou, the founder of EasyJet Plc (EZJ), agreed to take 110,334,156 newly issued Fastjet shares at 1 pence instead of royalty and consultancy payments, the London-based airline said in a statement today. The new stock will begin trading on July 30, boosting the African airline’s total share capital to about 2.98 billion ordinary shares.
“There is only one continent on earth where low air fares are not widely available yet,” Haji-Ioannou said in the statement. “Fastjet has demonstrated that travellers in Africa will react in exactly the same way as consumers elsewhere, to the availability of low-cost fares.”
