MENAFN) Lebanon’s flag carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA) has announced plans to offer 10-20 percent of the company when it lists on the Beirut bourse next year, Reuters reported.
Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor said he had no immediate plans to sell but that the flotation, agreed in an MEA general assembly in May, could help raise capital.
The central bank bought 99 percent of MEA in 1996 to save it from bankruptcy after losses ran into hundreds of millions of dollars. Appointed the following year to restructure the airline, the governor cut 40 percent of the staff and reversed 26 years of losses to return MEA to profit in 2002.
MEA is expected a net profit of $40 million this year, down from $50 million in 2004.
