Asiana Airlines meeting on sale of cargo business ends without conclusion (updated)

ASIANA AIRLINES

30/10/2023 13:40

(Recasts with board meeting's end, adds details)
       SEOUL, Oct 30 (Reuters) - An Asiana Airlines  020560.KS 
board meeting on whether it should accept a proposal by
prospective buyer Korean Air Lines to sell its cargo service in
response to EU antitrust concerns has ended without conclusion,
a company spokesperson said.
    Shares in South Korea's Asiana rose as much as 24% earlier
on Monday on expectations its proposed merger with Korean Air
 003490.KS  would proceed as board members met to discuss the
sale of the cargo operations. The stock later pared gains to
close up 7.1%.
    The board is expected to meet again, but the Asiana
spokesperson did not give a date. 
    Before Asiana held its board meeting to deliberate the sale,
a board member resigned for an unspecified reason, the company
confirmed. 
    "A lot of internal conflict is expected - the decision is
expected to be sharply contested," said Um Kyung-a, an analyst
at Shinyoung Securities. 
    "But if it does not lead to a sale, they will have to find
another way to get approval from the EU or other countries,
which is not easy and will take time."
    Reuters reported earlier this month that Korean Air would
offer to sell Asiana's air cargo business and divest routes to
four EU cities in a bid to gain EU antitrust approval for
acquiring its rival.
    Korean Air planned to submit the package to the European
Commission by the end of October, although the timing could
still slip, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters
earlier this month. 

 (Reporting by Ju-min Park, Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing
by Ed Davies and Jan Harvey)
 ((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))