San Miguel acquires minority stake in Philippines Airlines and Air Phil

San Miguel Corp. said Wednesday it has signed a deal with billionaire businessman Lucio Tan, that will give the diversifying conglomerate substantial but minority stakes in two Philippine airlines owned by Mr. Tan. San Miguel will invest $500m in exchange for as much as 49% each in Philippine Airlines (PAL) and its low-cost partner Air Philippines (Air Phil). Philippine Airlines reported a comprehensive loss of Philippine peso (Ps) 3.6bn ($84.3m) for the nine months to 31 December 2011, a reversal from a profit of Ps 3.2bn it reported a year before, despite a 2% increase in revenue to Ps 55.2bn for the 2011 period. This resulted from higher expenses and an unfavourable exchange rate as well as a sharp drop in non-operating income.