Airline’s minority shareholders urged not to sell shares

The Listed Companies Minority Shareholders’ Association has urged minority shareholders of Air Mauritius not to sell their shares.

The appeal has come from the association’s secretary Raj Ramlugun, also an ex-employee of the airline, after Airport Holdings announced its “firm intention” to make a mandatory offer to the shareholders of Air Mauritius to acquire all the voting rights at a price of Rs 5.80 per share.

He said the majority shareholder “is forcing small shareholders to sell their shares at ridiculous prices.”

The Association’s president, Awadh Balluck, is reportedly also very critical of the government’s decision to monopolize the national airline and blamed the authorities for “assigning the administration of the company to a restricted circle of friends of the Prime Minister’s Office.”

He further claimed that if the government succeeds to acquire more than 90% of the total number of shares, the rules of the Stock Exchange will allow the government to “acquire all the remaining shares at whatever price they decide and the company will then be delisted and the government will then not be accountable to anyone.”