Malaysia’s state investment firm Khazanah Nasional wants to nationalise the troubled airline and conduct a “complete overhaul” of the company.
Shares in MAS, which is reportedly considering a rebranding campaign that may include a company name change and network restructuring, were today delisted and suspended from trading.
Khazanah Nasional already owns 69 per cent of the airline and has offered to pay 0.27 ringgit per share for the remaining stock, a 12.5% premium to the closing price on Thursday. In total, the move will cost Khazanah some 1.4 billion ringgit (US$435 million).
The move comes as the company attempts to recover from the effect of losing two aircraft this year - the disappearance of MH370 and the crash of MH17 in eastern Ukraine.
The airline struggled with profitability for several years ahead of this year's disasters.
"The proposed restructuring will critically require all parties to work closely together to undertake what will be a complete overhaul of the national carrier," Khazanah said in a statement.
"Nothing less will be required in order to revive our national airline to be profitable as a commercial entity and to serve its function as a critical national development entity,” it added.
MalaysiaAirline.com