Air France-KLM: Soaring To New Heights

Jamshid Ehsani, Partner & Head of Global Principal Structured Finance: In 2021, we approached Air France. Air France was significantly affected by COVID. We had analyzed many airlines globally to identify the most resilient ones that would benefit from our flexible capital solutions. Air France-KLM stood up as one of the highest quality airlines.

Benjamin Smith, CEO, Air France-KLM: Air France-KLM faced significant challenges, including a fragile balance sheet and a volatile state of the travel industry. Apollo's ability to provide creative financing solutions was instrumental in strengthening our balance sheet and enabling us to weather the storm.

Jamshid Ehsani: Air France-KLM objective was very straightforward from the beginning: provide the airline with significant non-dilutive equity capital to bridge the path to financial stability post-COVID.

Apollo’s Flight Plan: Provide €2.5 billion in equity capital, preserve Air France-KLM’s operational control, prepare for takeoff.

Chris Edson, Partner & Global Head of Origination: Apollo's focused on providing solutions that companies need. It's a very collaborative back and forth.

Jamshid Ehsani: We create a trustworthy environment between Apollo team and the corporation to analyze and identify solutions.

Benjamin Smith: While many firms can provide capital, Apollo goes a step further by offering tailor-made solutions that are unique to our specific challenges. Apollo distinguishes itself through its agility and innovative approach to structuring deals.

Jamshid Ehsani: Apollo has access to long-term capital from its insurance balance sheet.

Our ability to use that in a flexible manner to address the issues that the corporation brings us, allows us to provide them a solution.

Benjamin Smith: They are not just financial experts. They are strategic thinkers who take a long-term view and are generally invested in our success. They’ve taken the time to fully comprehend, not only our financial needs, but also our long-term vision to boost profitability across our business units.

Jamshid Ehsani: Our ability to listen to the management, understand the issues, allowed us to provide a solution that navigated the complex environment. We created a long-term partnership with our long-term capital.