Turkish Airlines is reportedly mulling the purchase of HNA Group’s minority stake in Virgin Australia Holdings.
HNA’s 20% stake has been open to offers for a long time since the Chinese conglomerate found its huge debt pile unmanageable.
According to people familiar with the matter, talks with Turkish Airlines are at a preliminary stage and won’t necessarily end in a deal.
Other suitors for the stake have included existing shareholders Singapore Airlines and Nanshan Capital, Bloomberg reports.
It has spent the past couple of years offloading airline and hotel stakes, real estate and other assets to cut debt.
It managed to rack up one of the biggest corporate debt loads in China’s history thought to be in excess of 40 billion.
HNA still owns a portfolio of about a dozen airline businesses including HNA Airlines and Tianjin Airlines.
Neither party has acknowledged a deal is being discussed, although Turkish Airlines has made no secret of its desire to expand in Asia Pacific.
Based on current share price, the market values Virgin Australia at about at about A$1.4 billion ($957 million).
