Rio de Janeiro, Aug 14 (IANS/EFE) The TAM Linhas Aereas Airline of Brazil and LAN Airline of Chile have announced plans to merge to form a new entity named LATAM Airlines Group.
The airlines will, however, continue to fly under their existing brands and operating certificates, TAM said in a statement to Sao Paulo Stock Exchange Friday.
LAN said: ‘The all-stock transaction will consolidate the economic interests of LAN and TAM under a single parent entity while satisfying foreign ownership and control requirements of each country where they operate.’
The transaction will take six-nine months to complete and is subject to TAM and LAN entering into a binding definitive agreement, and securing corporate, shareholder and regulatory approval.
The merged entity will be one of the leading airline groups in the world in terms of ‘size, profitability and market reach’, said LAN.
Tam, Brazil’s largest airline, said after the all-stock transaction both companies will be jointly listed under the LATAM name on the Sao Paulo, New York and Santiago stock exchanges.
The merged entity will have 40,000 employees and offer passenger services to 115 destinations in 23 countries.
In 2009, the companies had combined revenues of $8.5 billion and carried over 45 million passengers and 832,000 tonnes of cargo.
–IANS/EFE
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