Qatar Joins China Aviation Bonanza With Surprise Stake in Cathay - Bloomberg:
"Qatar Airways Ltd.’s surprise purchase of a 9.6 percent stake in Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. to gain a foothold in East Asia has damped a long-held speculation among investors that the Hong Kong flag carrier would soon merge with another major shareholder: Air China Ltd. Qatar Air on Sunday agreed to buy the stake for HK$5.16 billion ($662 million) from Hong Kong-based Kingboard Chemical Holdings Ltd. and related companies, which have been steadily amassing shares in the Asian airline for the past year. The purchase, the first by a Middle Eastern airline in an East Asian carrier, makes the Doha-based company the third-largest shareholder in Cathay after Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific Ltd. with 45 percent, and state-owned Air China with almost 30 percent. Cathay’s stock fell the most in more than three months. “Cathay will have three major shareholders, all with different and potentially conflicting interests,” said Corrine Png, chief executive officer of Crucial Perspective, which focuses on research in Asia transportation equities. “We still think it makes more economic sense for Cathay and Air China to merge longer term, but given this new development with Qatar Airways in the picture, it is going to become more complicated for all three parties.”"
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