Etihad Airways increases stake in Virgin Australia
Etihad Airways announced (02-Sep-2012) it increased its equity stake in Virgin Australia to 10%, representing 221 million shares in the carrier. This follows Etihad Airways receiving approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to increase its stake from 5% to 10%. Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said, "We are very pleased to have reached this threshold. We support the management strategy of Virgin Australia and will continue to work closely with them on ways to improve our business." Mr Hogan also reiterated Etihad Airways is not interested in becoming a majority shareholder or taking control of Virgin Australia. Mr Hogan said the stake "further cements our commercial partnership as we continue to explore areas of even closer co-operation such as operational synergies, shared IT infrastructure and other forms of cost sharing efficiency." [more - original PR - Etihad Airways] [more - original PR - Virgin Australia]