Malaysia Airlines to halt trading and go private
ILL-FATED Malaysia Airlines intends to suspend trading its shares today, in a move that could pave the way for state investor Khazanah Nasional to take it private.
Trading in the company will be halted due to “a pending corporate announcement” sources familiar with the issue told Reuters.
The same sources said last month that Khazanah, which already owned 69 per cent of the airline, planned to take it private after a slump in business following the disappearance of Flight MH370 on 8 March.
The loss-making airline’s problems deepened on 17 July, when its MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
A de-listing would pave the way for Khazanah, which is chaired by Prime Minister Najib Razak, to revive the ailing carrier, possibly by selling off its profitable engineering, airport services or budget airline units, trimming its payroll and installing a new management team.
At the airline’s current price, majority shareholder Khazanah would need to pay around 1.23bn ringgit (£228m) for the shares it did not already own.