本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Victor Li is sticking to his father's script with his investment in Air Canada , one of seeking out firms that have fallen from grace but have hidden jewels to mine, analysts said on Monday.

The eldest son of Li Ka-shing, Asia's wealthiest tycoon, was chosen by the insolvent airline's board to inject C$650 million ($495 million) in equity in exchange for a 31 percent stake in the company when its restructuring is completed.

It is the Li family's first foray into airlines. It is known for holdings in a raft of other businesses worldwide, from real estate to ports to telecommunications to energy.

Victor, like his younger brother Richard Li, has Canadian citizenship and among his posts is co-chairman of Calgary-based Husky Energy Inc. , itself a struggling company when his father first gained a stake in the late 1980s.

"The history of investing in bankrupt airlines has actually been pretty favorable," said Cameron Doerksen, an airline analyst with Dlouhy Merchant Group. "With the investment, they get an asset for a pretty cheap price and they get sort of a clean slate to work with."

Air Canada, which has been under bankruptcy protection since April 1, is trying to restructure nearly C$13 billion of debt while facing heavy domestic competition from low-fare carriers, notably WestJet Airlines Ltd. .

But it remains the country's flag carrier internationally and one of its jewels is its presence in the Canada-Asia travel market, a position bolstered when it bought ill-fated competitor Canadian Airlines in 2000.

Victor Li's firm, Trinity Time Investments, beat out New York-based Cerberus Capital Management to make the infusion, and joins Deutsche Bank, which is underwriting a C$450 million rights offering, to inject more capital into what is expected to be a leaner carrier with less emphasis on domestic travel.

"Mr. Li brings a number of parts to the deal that Cerberus never could have, not the least of which is his Canadian citizenship, which neatly steps around the 25 percent (foreign) ownership rules," said airline consultant Rick Erickson.

He is also no stranger to Ottawa and stands to win "brownie points" by saving the federal government, which privatized Air Canada in 1988, the embarrassment of watching it descend into oblivion, although the odds of that are slim, Erickson said.

"Over the course of the (Li family's) business dealings in in Canada, they have come to know who some of the political players are and they know how to make things happen," he said.

The investment in integrated oil firm Husky is an example of patient money paying off, analysts said.

Husky had a dominant position in heavy crude oil production, but less than stellar results. Li Ka-shing bought out the rest of the company in the early 1990s and in 2000 took it public through a reverse takeover of Renaissance Energy.

Since then, Husky has begun lucrative exploration and production in the South China Sea and this summer paid a special dividend that stuffed coffers of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and other Li family holdings with C$300 million.

Despite years of speculation that Husky was on the block -- at least two potential suitors pored over the books -- the Lis remain front and center with a 72 percent interest.

"They're getting a good segue into China. They're using the connections that they have to get into some interesting markets and they got some pretty big projects coming," said analyst William Lacey of FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

The relationship with China, fostered by Li Ka-shing, could pay off for Air Canada with new routes in the burgeoning and potentially huge travel market, Erickson said.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Canada, Russia wage dogfight over airspace flight rights



By KEITH MCARTHUR
00:00 EST Saturday, November 01, 2003

Canada and Russia banned each other's commercial aircraft from flying through their sovereign air space yesterday in a simmering trade dispute over aviation rights.

After Russia refused to allow Air Canada flights to New Delhi to fly over Russian air space, Ottawa yanked Russia's overflight rights in Canada. Moscow responded by withdrawing Air Canada's right to fly over Russia on flights to Beijing.

"Russia has denied overflight rights for Air Canada's service to India. As a result, Canada has taken action restricting Russian overflights in Canadian air space," said Jennie Chen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Ottawa said Canada is also reducing the number of Aeroflot flights allowed to land in Toronto. Foreign Affairs said it has not yet put any restrictions on landing rights, a spokesman said.

As a result of Ottawa's actions, Aeroflot aircraft headed to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle will have to spend several extra hours in the air. And it will take longer for Air Canada flights to get to Beijing.

Aeroflot operates five flights a week to the western United States. Its flights to New York and Washington will not be affected.

Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke said Air Canada flights must spend an hour longer than anticipated to get to New Delhi.

Air Canada launched service to India last month. The extra hour costs the airline money because it requires more fuel. Also, Air Canada must fly with a lower payload -- fewer passengers or less cargo -- because of the extra fuel required.

Ms. Cooke said westbound flights to Beijing will take more time --eastbound flights do not pass through Russian airspace.

The Moscow Times reported that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien discussed the dispute recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The Canadian government declared some restrictive measures including a ban of overflights by Aeroflot on the Canadian territory on Aeroflot flights to the USA and some reduction of Aeroflot flights to Toronto," said Alexi Lisenkov of the Russian embassy in Ottawa.

"The Russian side considers that these actions are absolutely groundless, that they contradict the agreements achieved by our two leaders. We found ourselves forced to take some measures in response including restrictions of overflight of the Russian territory by Air Canada flights. But we think that this way of solving the problem is a dead end. There's no way out."

Ms. Chen said the existing bilateral air services agreement between Canada and Russia should allow Air Canada to fly over Russia.

"Russian authorities have not recognized these overflight rights under the agreement in spite of Canadian negotiating efforts. Negotiations are continuing to try to resolve this issue and resolve full service to the Canadian travelling public and business interests," Ms. Chen said.

Bill Clark, a Toronto lawyer specializing in international aviation law, said Ottawa's move to ban Aeroflot could have a significant impact on the Russian flag carrier.

"We've got a big piece of land and they use it for their benefit, lots of the time."

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