Japan's ANA Holdings has completed its acquisition of an 8.771% stake in Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi Noi Bai International) valued at VND2.431 billion (USD109 million).
The agreement, first announced as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) back in January, was finalized during Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Tokyo this past weekend.
“Finding a partner for business and capital tie-up is a key part in the effort of Vietnam Airlines to improve and increase competitiveness in international markets," Pham Ngoc Minh, President & CEO of Vietnam Airlines, said. "The cooperation with ANA, one of the world’s best customer service providers, will help us to be more confident, to upgrade our fleet with the latest generation aircraft, to expand our markets, to improve service quality and to achieve higher efficiency.”
With this sale and following a conservative IPO in November 2014 which saw a 3.48% stake being sold off, the Vietnamese government's total shareholding in Vietnam Airlines now stands at 87.73%. Overall, Hanoi plans to further reduce its stake to 75% and then to 65%.
Under the terms of the business and capital partnership, the share subscription is scheduled to take place in July following which the Japanese firm will occupy a seat on the Vietnamese carrier's board. ANA will then provide Vietnam Airlines with expertise in the areas of business and flight operations.
In terms of cooperation, effective October 30, ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) and Vietnam Airlines will begin codesharing on thirty major Japanese and Vietnamese domestic routes and on ten international routes between the two countries. At the same time, members of each carrier's frequent flyer programme will be able to begin accruing miles on codeshare routes.
The two airlines also plan to collaborate in a range of services including passenger check-in, cargo loading, ground-handling, catering, aircraft MRO, and various other services present at airports throughout Japan and Vietnam.
