Japan’s ANA invests in Philippine Airlines
MANILA, Philippines — Japan’s ANA Holdings Inc. will invest $95 million in PAL Holdings Inc. — the parent company of flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday, PAL Holdings said the parent company of Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) will acquire 9.5 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.
ANA Holdings will acquire the shares from Lucio Tan-owned Trustmark Holdings Corp., the largest shareholder of PAL Holdings. Completion of the deal is subject to certain closing conditions.
“We are honored and excited that a premier airline group such as ANA HD has decided to purchase shares in PAL Holdings. The Philippines and Japan have a long-standing relationship with complementary strengths,” PAL Holdings President Jaime Bautista said.
Shares in PAL Holdings jumped 92 centavos or 7.03 percent to close at P14 apiece on Tuesday following the announcement, while the Philippine Stock Exchange index was down 0.04 percent.
Bautista early this month said PAL “has always been open to the possibility of a strategic investor” to help boost its operations.
“We’re targeting first half of this year… Up to 40 percent stake, that’s the maximum that we can offer. As per the law, foreigners can own only up to 40 percent,” Bautista said.
PAL currently operates 84 flights weekly on nine routes to Japan. Meanwhile, ANA, Japan’s largest airline, operates 14 flights weekly on two routes to the Philippines.
The two carriers have codeshare operations on Japan-Philippine routes and domestic routes within both countries, linking a total of 16 Japanese and 11 Philippine destinations.
“Asia is a key growth market and we believe Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalize on both the strong uptick in air traffic growth as well as the vibrant, expanding Philippine economy,” ANA Holdings President Shinya Katanozaka said.
“We look forward to expanding our business relationship with Philippine Airlines so we can continue to serve our passengers even better,” Katanozaka added.
PAL is targeting to increase its passenger volume to 19 million in 2019, about 12 percent higher than the 17 million passengers the airline said it ferried in 2018.
PAL also aims to be a certified five-star carrier by 2020.
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