Thai Airways International appears ready to abandon its bid to acquire more shares in Nok Air to gain greater control over the budget airline. “We are reluctant to buy more shares in Nok Air,” said THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand. He said Nok was looking less attractive as an investment because of its lack of hedging against prevailing high fuel prices, and its policy to buy future aircraft instead of leasing, since buying is more capital-intensive. THAI offered recently to buy 5m Nok Air shares held by state-owned Krung Thai Bank for Bt150m, or Bt30 baht a share. KTB maintains the shares are worth Bt44 each and has not responded to THAI’s proposal. – Bangkok Post
