Dhaka June 17 (bdnews24.com)— Beximco Group has bought a 50 percent stake in GMG Airlines and is injecting enough cash into Bangladesh's biggest private passenger carrier to buy two big planes, the company announced Wednesday.
Beximco paid Tk 30 crore to buy the stake in the ailing airline and will also lend another Tk 40 crore to help GMG through its financial crisis.
"We feel that GMG has a huge potential with its licenses to operate on many lucrative routes that the foreign airlines are now exploiting," said Salman F Rahman, the Beximco Group vice chairman, announcing the deal.
"So much of our foreign currency is flying out of Bangladesh because our failure to fly these routes," Salman Rahman told bdnews24.com.
GMG needed Tk 70 crore to weather the crisis caused by the high oil prices and the global meltdown.
"GMG's current owners will dilute down to 50 percent and issue new shares worth Tk 30 crore in favour of Beximco Ltd, which will make up the rest 50 percent," Rahman said of the new deal.
Beximco Holdings will lend the rest Tk 40 crore to GMG to ease the airline's financial pressure.
Rahman said GMG would buy two wide-bodied Boeing 767s to boost its current six-plane fleet.
Two of its existing six planes were now grounded, but would be brought back to operation with the Beximco cash.
GMG Airlines started its operations on 6th April, 1998.
The Airlines now operates from Dhaka to Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Jessore and Sylhet on its domestic routes and to Kolkata, Dubai, Kuala Lampur, Kathmandu, Bangkok and Karachi on the international routes.
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