Air NZ keeps Virgin stake at 19.99% as Singapore Airlines joins owners

Air New Zealand has kept its stake in partner airline Virgin Australia, buying 49.1 million shares to retain ownership at 19.99 percent after Singapore Airlines joined the shareholder register.

New Zealand's national carrier made the transaction at the same time as Singapore Airlines was issued a 10 percent stake in Virgin, it said in a statement. No dollar figure was put on the purchase, which at today's trading price equals some A$23.81 million.

Last month, Singapore Airlines paid A$105 million for a stake in Virgin, which was subsequently used to buy 60 percent of Tiger Airways and all of Skywest Airlines.

Virgin issued 245.6 million shares to Singapore Airlines at an issue price of 42.88 Australian cents apiece, meaning Air NZ had to buy more shares to prevent its own stake being diluted.

Air NZ said its purchase of Virgin shares equated to 2 percent of the Australian airline's stock.

The New Zealand carrier's shares rose 2.9 percent to $1.24 in trading today, and have rallied 34 percent this year. Virgin's last traded at 48.5 Australian cents on the ASX.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

Air NZ plans to raise stake in Virgin Australia to 25.9 percent after gaining approvals
Air NZ keeps balance sheet plump, holds back on dividends as fleet renewal looms
Air New Zealand plans to close Auckland maintenance facility, cut 180 jobs, union says
Air NZ's Safe Air unit cuts 84 jobs in Blenheim as contracts end
Air NZ agrees to settle cartel case, expects earnings at upper end of guidance
Air NZ lifts stake in Virgin Australia to 23 percent , may creep up to 26 percent
Air NZ backs down on challenge to cargo suit against regulator
Air New Zealand reviews Japan flights as decline in yen makes travel more expensive
Ex-Foodstuffs boss Carter to head up Air NZ board
Air NZ shares jump 5.6 percent as airline flags annual earnings to more than double