Singapore Airlines reaches deal on China Eastern buyout

China Eastern Airlines has finally agreed to sell a 24 percent stake to Singapore Airlines and Temasek Holdings for US$930 million after months of behind the scenes wrangling.

At least, that's according to what a source told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. There has been no official word throughout the long-running saga and a China Eastern even denied to the SCMP that the deal had been sealed.

The newspaper reported that Singapore Airlines would stump up $600 million for 16 percent of the mainland carrier and Temasek, the investment arm of the Singapore government, would fork out the remaining $300 million for about eight percent.

Temasek owns 54 percent of Singapore Airlines.

Lately, China Eastern has been a big loss-maker, losing almost $200 million in 2006 and a further $100 million in the first three months of this year.

An indication of just how troubled the carrier is: China Eastern's only hope of getting back into the black lies in the hands of the appreciating yuan.