SIA CLOSE TO BUYING CEA STAKE

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Singapore Airlines is poised to buy a stake in China Eastern Airlines for “hundreds of millions of US dollars”, according to a person close to the deal.

SIA has been in talks for more than a year about buying up to 25 per cent of CEA. A deal would give it greater access to the booming Shanghai market in return for helping restructure the heavily indebted, lossmaking CEA.

The asking price for the CEA stake has risen dramatically since talks began.
Shares in the airline have soared and Chinese government regulations require strategic stakes in listed companies to be sold at no cheaper than a 10 per cent discount to the 20-day average closing share price.

Analysts said they expected the Singaporean carrier to pay as much as $1bn for a 25 per cent stake in CEA, based on its share price. However, people familiar with the deal said the amount involved would be “nothing near a billion but rather in the 100s of millions” for new shares to be issued by the company.

Final talks were under way last night. It was unclear what size stake SIA would eventually buy.

“It must be hard to get to the altar and have to postpone the wedding a bit longer,” said Peter Harbison, chairman of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Since the possibility of SIA taking a stake in CEA was made public a year ago, its Shanghai-traded share price has risen more than 320 per cent, closing at Rmb9.60 on Monday. Its Hong Kong-traded shares have risen 240 per cent to close at HK$3.73 on Monday.

Shares in CEA and SIA were suspended yesterday pending an announcement on the deal.

CEA is the smallest and weakest of China's three main airlines. But in spite of its financial woes, the airline's control over the geographic hub of Shanghai makes it an attractive target for domestic rivals and foreign investors.


据知情人士透露，新加坡航空(Singapore Airlines)即将以“数亿美元”购入中国东方航空(China Eastern Airlines)的部分股权。

新加坡航空已就收购东航至多25%股权一事，进行了一年多的谈判。如果成功入股，新加坡航空将能够在更大程度地参与增长迅速的上海航空市场，以此作为帮助东航重组的回报。目前，东航负债累累，处于亏损之中。

自谈判开始以来，收购东航股权的要价已大幅提高。
  过去1年，东航股价大幅攀升。根据中国政府规定，战略投资者的收购折价，不得大于被收购公司前20个交易日A股平均收盘价的10%。

分析师表示，以东航目前的股价计算，预计新加坡航空购入东航25%股权的价格将高达10亿美元。但熟悉谈判情况的人士表示，东航将向新加坡航空定向增发新股，作价“不是近10亿美元，而是数亿美元”。

最终谈判昨晚在进行中。目前尚不清楚新加坡航空最终购入的股权比例。

咨询机构亚太航空中心(Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation)执行总裁彼德•哈比森(Peter Harbison)表示：“联姻肯定很难完成，婚礼可能不得不再推迟一段时间。”

自1年前新加坡航空有可能购入东航部分股权的消息公布以来，东航在上海证交所交易的A股股价已涨逾320%，周一报收于9.60元人民币。同期，该公司香港H股股价上涨240%，周一收于3.73港元。

由于即将就参股事宜进行公告，东航和新加坡航空股票昨日停牌。

在中国3大航空公司中，东航规模最小，实力也最弱。然而，尽管财务状况不佳，但由于控制着处于区域中心位置的上海市场，东航是国内竞争对手和外国投资者的诱人目标。