The take-over of Philippine carrier Seair has taken a new twist with Filipino Chinese tycoon Alfredo Yao claiming in the news media that he has bought the airline when in fact he hasn't.
A report in The Manila Bulletin quoted Yao as saying that he has bought the airline and will be merging it with his other airline Asian Spirit and rebranding the business.
He told the newspaper he paid "less than two billion Philippine pesos" ($48 million) for the two airlines.
Yao last month bought Asian Spirit but he has yet to buy Seair.
I know this because I asked Seair director, Nick Gitsis, yesterday whether the airline has been sold and Gitsis said “not yet”.
He says Seair is in negotiations to sell to Yao and some things have been agreed to verbally but Seair has yet to receive a written offer from Yao and “there are still a lot of things that are not clear”.
Gitsis says the carrier anticipates it will receive a written offer on Monday 28 April.
Yao is buying into the small airlines at a time when these two carriers face new competition in the domestic market from larger airlines Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines which have just started to add turboprops.
Yao is a Philippine businessman who made a fortune from his Zesto fruit juice business plus he has the rights to the RC Cola brand in the Philippines.
Lets just hope Yao's bid for Seair doesn't fizzle out by Monday.
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