The airline has said the Russian government aims to maintain its 51.2% stake MOSCOW: Russia’s biggest airline, Aeroflot, plans to raise at least 80 billion roubles ($1.02 billion) in a secondary public offering (SPO) in Moscow, it said on Friday. State-controlled Aeroflot has been hit by the new coronavirus outbreak this year which grounded most passenger planes around the world. However, its chief executive, Vitaly Saveliev, said in a statement that it believes in the long-term structural growth of the Russian passenger aviation market. “The additional equity capital raised via this offering will put the Aeroflot Group on a firm footing as we continue our recovery from the impact of COVID-19 and build for the future,” Saveliev said. Institutional investors are expected to buy Aeroflot’s new shares for up to 39 billion roubles, while the rest will come from existing shareholders, including the Russian government, which aims to maintain its stake in the airline at the current 51.2 percent, Aeroflot said. FASTFACT Aeroflot is one of the oldest airlines in the world, having been founded in 1923. Aeroflot started investor meetings on Friday. Books are expected to be closed on Oct. 8, a source familiar with the possible deal and a financial market source told Reuters. The airline aims to use the proceeds from the deal, which is being arranged by VTB Capital, for general corporate purposes and deleveraging. The company plans to issue up to 1.7 billion shares for the deal. Its current shareholders are expected to get 987 million shares, of which 869.9 million shares will be purchased by the Russian government. Shares in Aeroflot were down 3.2 percent in Moscow on Friday, underperforming the benchmark index, which was down 1.9 percent.