January 29, 2010
Brazil's largest airline, TAM ,is in talks to buy a stake in Chile's flagship carrier LAN owned by President-elect Sebastian Pinera, Brazilian magazine Exame reported late on Thursday.
TAM is interested in the 19 percent LAN stake held by Pinera's holding company Axxion, Exame said.
TAM may use proceeds from the initial public offering of its Multiplus frequent flyer programme to finance part of the acquisition, the magazine said without giving a source for the information.
TAM's Multiplus is set to go public next week in an offering that could up to BRR1.28 billion reais (USD$688.2 million).
The talks are being led by Andre Esteves, the Brazilian billionaire head of investment bank BTG Pactual, who is also a board member of TAM, Exame said.
Esteves has also lined up a group of investment banks to help the Amaro family, which controls TAM, in the possible acquisition, the magazine said.
"TAM has an operational partnership via codeshare with LAN Chile and helps with maintenance of the company's aircraft," TAM said in a statement. "About the shares, we have nothing to comment."
(Reuters)
Brazil's largest airline, TAM ,is in talks to buy a stake in Chile's flagship carrier LAN owned by President-elect Sebastian Pinera, Brazilian magazine Exame reported late on Thursday.
TAM is interested in the 19 percent LAN stake held by Pinera's holding company Axxion, Exame said.
TAM may use proceeds from the initial public offering of its Multiplus frequent flyer programme to finance part of the acquisition, the magazine said without giving a source for the information.
TAM's Multiplus is set to go public next week in an offering that could up to BRR1.28 billion reais (USD$688.2 million).
The talks are being led by Andre Esteves, the Brazilian billionaire head of investment bank BTG Pactual, who is also a board member of TAM, Exame said.
Esteves has also lined up a group of investment banks to help the Amaro family, which controls TAM, in the possible acquisition, the magazine said.
"TAM has an operational partnership via codeshare with LAN Chile and helps with maintenance of the company's aircraft," TAM said in a statement. "About the shares, we have nothing to comment."
(Reuters)
