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High-flying bank sells its planes ahead of IPO
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June 12th, 2014
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Saxo Bank gets its feet on the ground with cost-cutting
Børsen business newspaper reports that recently published accounts of Saxo Jet, a 100 percent subsidiary of Saxo Bank, reveal that the investment bank has sold its two private jets in an effort to streamline its operations ahead of a probable stock exchange listing in the coming years.
Catherine Keir, the bank’s head of communications in Denmark and the Nordic countries, explained the move to Børsen. “We have made an effort, especially in recent years, to focus on our core business,” she said. “And we have assessed that planes aren’t part of our core business.”
65 million kroner depreciation
The two aircraft were purchased in 2007 for a combined price of 205 million kroner, but were sold for just 140 million kroner.
“The airline industry has also been hit hard by the crisis, where the price of planes has fallen, and that of course affects the sale of used planes, so there has been a big write-off on account of this,” Keir said.
The bank justified the acquisition of the aircraft by the need to transport the bank’s top management between its network of 27 offices around the world. “First and foremost it was a wish to be independent of routes and flight times,” Keir explained.
Now the top brass will make do with commercial transport for the most part. “They’ll fly with ordinary scheduled flights. And if it’s the case that, because of time, resources or independence, it would be better to fly with a private plane, we’ll hire one,” Keir said.
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