DHAKA: Biman Bangladesh Airlines is looking for a Gulf-based or South-east Asia-based airline investor and partner after the government cleared the launch of its maiden IPO offer.

The national carrier has floated a tender to offload 61 percent of the government`s stake to a strategic investor in a bid to save the airline from its current financial quagmire.

The bid will be closed on October 11. The government will retain a 30 percent minority stake and nine percent will be reserved for Biman employees.

Kevin John Steele, newly appointed managing director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said: “We are open to strategic partnership with any dependable airline partner based in the Gulf or South-east Asian nations or India. We are open to a joint venture. New Delhi is very important for our future growth and is likely to become a hub for us.”

Biman managed to reduce its losses from US$75 million in 2011 to US$25 million in 2012, and hopes to bring the losses further down to US$10 million by 2014.

Currently, it has eight aircrafts and expects to increase it to 18 by 2015. It expects to introduce more Boeing 777s and has ordered six 787 Dreamliners to be delivered in 2018.

International inbound arrivals to Bangladesh grew from 3.2 million in 2005 to six million in 2012.

Source: ttgasia.com

BDST: 1645 HRS, OCT 10, 2013
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