Skymark Airlines Inc., which is going through civil rehabilitation proceedings, has entered the final stages of negotiating an agreement with ANA Holdings Inc. over a capital injection, sources said.
Details such as what percentage of the company would be received by ANA Holdings are still under discussion.
ANA Holdings is the parent company of All Nippon Airways Co.
The funds from ANA would be integrated into Skymark's rehabilitation plan, together with the up to ¥9 billion (S$101 million) pledged by Integral Corp., a private equity fund.
A plan has evolved to keep ANA's stake below 20 per cent, which would allow the group of financial institutions and other investors cooperating with ANA to establish a 50 per cent overall stake and equal footing with Integral by matching the private equity fund's pledge, sources said.
ANA is considering dispatching staff to Skymark to work in safety, maintenance and other areas. It is also considering starting code-share flights, mainly for routes that serve Haneda Airport.
The reason for keeping ANA's stake under 20 per cent is that anything more substantial would cause the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry to consider Skymark an ANA subsidiary, which would trigger a reassessment of the companies' slot allocations at Haneda Airport.
Skymark's creditors and others are demanding about ¥300 billion in total through the Tokyo District Court.
ANA is a major customer of Airbus SAS, to which Skymark owes a significant sum.
Skymark is expected to decide that ANA's investment is essential to winning agreement among its creditors for its rehabilitation plan.