Malaysian state investor Khazanah plans to take Malaysia Airlines (MAS) private as the first phase in a major restructuring of the airline.
De-listing the airline would pave the way for Khazanah to revive the loss-making carrier, by selling off its profitable engineering, airport services and budget airline divisions, trimming its payroll and installing a new management team.
The restructuring and potential sale of MAS is considered politically risky due to heavy opposition to job losses from the airline’s union, which has blocked previous restructuring plans.
At MAS's current price of MYR0.21 per share, majority shareholder Khazanah would need to pay only MYR1.05bn ($328 million) for the 30.6% of shares it does not already own.
Khazanah's board, chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, is expected to meet at the end of July to discuss the plan.
MAS's chief executive stated last week that the business needed to embrace "radical or sweeping change” to survive.