Philippine Airlines to sell minority stake to foreign investor in first half

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Airlines Inc is closing in on selling a minority stake to a foreign strategic investor, with a deal likely to be sealed in the first half of this year, its president said on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the carrier was finalising a deal with Japan's ANA Holdings Inc, sending shares of the airline's parent PAL Holdings Inc up as much as 33 percent to an 11-month high.

Philippine Airlines is "talking to several investors" about the stake, President Jaime Bautista said, but he declined to name the investors due to confidentiality agreements.

"We have not signed any agreement with any of the possible investors," he told Reuters in response to the report about ANA.

Philippine Airlines, a loss-making carrier, fours years ago hatched a plan to bring on board a strategic investor to help boost revenues and fast-track an expansion programme.

A spokesman for ANA was not immediately available for comment. The Japanese airline owns an 8.8 percent stake in Vietnam Airlines.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in Manila and Jamie Freed in Singapore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)