Japan’s ANA completes purchase of Vietnam Airlines stake: report

Vietnam Airlines reportedly will hold an extraordinary meeting prior to September 30 in order to elect ANA representatives to the board, and adopt a plan to increase charter capital by issuing additional shares to its existing shareholders.

Under the strategic partnership, the two airlines will launch codeshare arrangements, which will cover 30 major domestic routes within Japan and Vietnam and 10 international routes between the two countries.

Vietnam Airlines has said it will continue to look for potential investors to cut the state ownership to 65%.

The Vietnamese carrier sold 49 million shares, or a 3.5% stake, in an IPO in November 2014 for about US$51.3 million.

Chief Executive Officer Pham Ngoc Minh told Bloomberg in April that the airline expected to list its shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange “later this year” after closing the deal with ANA and fulfilling some procedural requirements of the exchange.