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ANA Holdings Inc., the parent company of All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest airline is taking a minority stake in the holding firm of Philippine Airlines for $95 million.

PAL Holdings Inc., the parent firm of PAL entered an agreement with Japan’s ANA Holdings for the sale of 9.5 percent stake in the company for $95 million.

ANA Holdings will acquire the shares from Trustmark Holdings Corp., which is owned by the Lucio Tan family and is the largest shareholder of PAL Holdings Inc.

“This purchase underscores ANA HD’s (ANA Holdings) belief in the dynamism of the Asian region and the great potential of the Philippines’ multi-awarded flag carrier and its confidence that the Philippine air travel market will continue to serve as an economic leader for the ASEAN region,” PAL and ANA’s joint statement said.

“Additionally, the investment by ANA HD heralds the dawn of a new era of growth for PAL, which has embarked on a full-scale expansion program that has seen its fleet and network grow to almost 100 aircraft and 80 destinations in four continents,” the statement added.

Jaime Bautista, president of PAL said, “We are honored and excited that a premier airline group such as ANA HD has decided to purchase shares in PAL Holdings.”

Shinya Katanozaka, president and chief executive of ANA Holdings said Asia is a key growth market and the company believes Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalize on the strong uptick in air traffic growth and the expanding Philippine economy.

Philippine Airlines operates 84 flights weekly on 9 routes to Japan and ANA operates 14 flights weekly on two routes to the Philippines.

The two carriers have codeshare operations on Japan - Philippine routes and domestic routes within Japan and the Philippines, linking a total of 16 Japanese and 11 Philippine destinations.

PAL Holdings earlier reported a net loss of P3.29 billion in the first nine months last year, up 42.2 percent from P2.31 billion in the same period in 2017. DMS