PAL stake offered for $200m

PAL stake offered for $200m

MANILA (AFP): Philippines businessman Lucio Tan is willing to sell his controlling stake in Philippine Airlines (PAL) for US$200 million with the buyer assuming two billion dollars in loans, Finance Secretary Jose Pardo said on Thursday.

Speaking in a telephone interview from Prague, where he is attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank annual meeting, Pardo said Tan had written to him saying that "he wants 200 million dollars for his controlling interest."

Tan, a close ally of Philippine President Joseph Estrada, also had one condition: that some two billion dollars in PAL's total debts, which he had assumed, would be transferred to the buyer of the national flag-carrier.

Pardo said Tan had authorized him to offer this controlling block to other investors, adding that he was looking at EVA Airways and China Airlines of Taiwan as well as interests in Brunei and the Middle East.