Malaysia Airlines, the Asian carrier teetering on the edge of collapse after two disasters in four months, is to be taken private by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund in a rescue plan that will see the airline delisted and restructured in a bid to restore it to profitability.
Khazanah, which is the biggest shareholder in the airline with a 69 per cent stake, said on Friday in a statement seen by the Financial Times that it had submitted to Malaysia Airlines’ board a proposal to buy out minority shareholders in a “selective capital reduction and repayment exercise”.
Minority shareholders would receive Rm0.27 ($0.08) a share, representing a 12.5 per cent premium to the closing price of Malaysia Airlines on Thursday, and a 29 per cent premium to the volume-weighted average of the shares over the past three months. Shares in Malaysia Airlines were suspended from trading on Friday.