Qatar Airways buys 9.6 pct stake in Cathay Pacific - Kingboard Chemical (updated)

Kingboard Holdings

06/11/2017 24:57

* Qatar Airways to pay $661 mln for stake 
    * Joins concentrated register alongside Swire Pacific, Air 
China 
    * Qatar Airways also owns stakes in IAG, LATAM, Meridiana 
 
 (Adds details on Cathay, Qatar Airways) 
    SINGAPORE/DUBAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Kingboard 
Chemical Holdings  0148.HK  on Monday said it had agreed to sell 
its 9.6 percent stake in Cathay Pacific Airways  0293.HK  to 
Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways for HK$5.16 billion ($661 
million). 
    Kingboard, an investment holding company, said it would 
recognise a gain of HK$800 million on the sale which represented 
its entire stake in the Hong Kong airline. 
    Qatar Airways was not immediately available to comment.     
Cathay shares have risen by 29.4 percent since the start of 
January despite the airline in August posting its worst 
first-half loss in 20 years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1L237G 
    The Hong Kong airline has a highly concentrated share 
register with Swire Pacific Ltd  0019.HK  owning 45 percent and 
Air China Ltd  601111.SS  holding 30 percent. 
    This is not the first time Qatar Airways has taken a stake 
in another airline. The carrier owns 20 percent of International 
Consolidated Airlines Group  ICAG.L , the parent of British 
Airways, as well as 10 percent of South America's LATAM Airlines 
Group SA  LTM.SN  and 49 percent of Italy's Meridiana. 
    Qatar Airways and Cathay are both members of the oneworld 
alliance, as is British Airways and LATAM.  
    The Qatari carrier in August dropped plans to build a stake 
of up to 4.75 percent in American Airlines Group Inc  AAL.O . 
    Those investment plans were met with suspicion by critics at 
a time when Qatar is embroiled in the region's worst diplomatic 
crisis in years and is locked in an airspace rights dispute with 
three other Gulf states.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1KO12Z 
($1 = 7.8021 Hong Kong dollars) 
 
 (Reporting by Jamie Freed and Alexander Cornwell; Editing by 
Stephen Coates) 
 ((Jamie.Freed@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6318 4789;)) 
 
Keywords: CATHAY PACIFIC M&A/QATAR AIRWAYS