SARS-hit SIA looks to raise cash via debt issue

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA), facing unprecedented losses from a plunge in passenger traffic triggered by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, unveiled yesterday plans to raise cash through a debt issue, and market speculation is that it may raise up to US$1bil. 

The fund-raising plan of Asia’s largest airline by market value, which had shunned the debt market until two years ago, follows losses of almost S$7mil a day since April.