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有人关心这个？ Tuesday May 22, 12:40 PM China Eastern, S'pore Air halted amid $1 bln buy talk By Alison Leung and Jan Dahinten HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Shares in China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. and Singapore Airlines were suspended on Tuesday amid reports the world's most valuable passenger airline would soon buy up to a quarter of the loss-making, Shanghai-based carrier for nearly $1 billion. A deal would bolster access to booming eastern China for Singapore Air, and beef up China Eastern's balance sheet to help it compete with rivals such as a newly forged alliance between Beijing-based Air China and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways. China Eastern's Hong Kong shares closed at HK$3.73 before the suspension, having gained 60 percent in three weeks amid speculation it was close to unveiling a deal with the Singaporean carrier. Its American Depositary Receipts gained 9.4 percent. A deal would satisfy the dual objectives of giving SIA a 25 percent stake, while maintaining Chinese state control at over 50 percent, Merrill Lynch said on Monday. China Eastern (CEA), the smallest of the country's three main carriers, would sell 2.05 billion Hong Kong-traded shares to Singapore Air, while the state would buy 1.3 billion new A shares, the influential Beijing-based Caijing magazine reported earlier this month. The Shanghai Securities News cited CEA Chairman Li Fenghua as saying on Monday that China Eastern intended to sell up to a quarter of the airline to a foreign strategic investor. Both companies declined comment. Singapore Airlines said it would make a statement after the market close. Based on the stock's last close, Singapore Airlines would have to pay more than HK$7.65 billion (US$980 million) for the CEA stake. Singapore Air last traded at S$18.40. The stock has risen 37 percent in the past year. POISED FOR TAKEOFF? China Eastern posted a loss of 2.78 billion yuan ($363.3 million) in 2006. Rivals Air China and China Southern Airlines were both profitable. Analysts and Chinese state media said a deal was far from certain. Negotiations to secure equity investment from Singapore Air were going smoothly, but a deal would depend on regulatory support, CEA's was quoted as saying. ""While the introduction of a foreign strategic partner is undoubtedly a positive for CEA, we believe it would take time for the carrier to turn around given the depth of its problems,"" Cazenove analyst Andrew Au wrote on April 26. ""Of more immediate interest to shareholders is whether the strategic partner would be prepared to pay a premium over current valuation for the stake and if so, how much."" China Eastern's Shanghai-listed shares trade at 9.60 yuan each, around 2.6 times their Hong Kong-listed share price. (Additional reporting by Jimmy Tsim)很值得研究的是新航买入东航的目的是什么？也很想知道Merrill Lynch在里面有多少油水可拿！以新航的考量，东航的国内市场应该是最重要的因素
