From The FT
Air China raises Cathay Pacific stake
By Tom Mitchell in Hong Kong
Published: August 17 2009 19:55 | Last updated: August 17 2009 19:55
Air China, the country’s flag carrier, has agreed to pay HK$6.3bn (US$813m) to increase its stake in Cathay Pacific, only three years after first securing a holding in the Hong Kong airline.
The transaction with Citic Pacific, the Hong Kong arm of China’s largest investment group, will boost Air China’s stake in Cathay Pacific from 17.5 per cent to 29.99 per cent – just below the takeover threshold.
Swire Pacific, Cathay’s controlling shareholder, also agreed to pay HK$1bn for an additional 2 per cent of the airline, bringing its shareholding to 42 per cent.
In Hong Kong, controlling shareholders may not increase their stake by more than 2 per cent a year without triggering a general offer.
Swire, controlled by John Swire & Sons of the UK, is an enduring symbol of Hong Kong’s colonial past and has a long history of complex interactions with Chinese government flagships.
Citic Pacific first invested in Cathay in 1987. More recently, in 2006, Swire and Cathay entered into a wide-ranging cross-shareholding agreement with Air China.
Under the terms of that agreement, China’s flag carrier cannot make a takeover bid for Cathay – or accept a third-party bid – without approval from the Hong Kong airline’s board. Cathay, in turn, has a 20 per cent stake in Air China.
Christopher Pratt, chairman of both Swire and Cathay, said on Monday: “It remains the firm intention of Swire Pacific to remain the single largest shareholder in [Cathay], as indeed we have been for the past 60 years.
“As we have made plain many times in the past, Swire Pacific is wholeheartedly committed to the long-term development of the aviation industry in Hong Kong and the mainland.”
Air China, the world’s largest airline by market capitalisation, said in a statement that the increased shareholding “will serve as a platform for further co-operation” with Cathay and “be useful in terms of boosting [our] international competitive strengths and brand value”.
Both Air China and Swire paid Citic Pacific HK$12.88 a share, representing an 11 per cent premium to Cathay’s last closing price.
Citic Pacific lost $1.9bn last year on poorly designed foreign exchange hedging contracts. The conglomerate also revealed in April that it was the subject of a Hong Kong police investigation into alleged false statements and fraud.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.