BA seeks to sell majority stake in OpenSkies

By Quentin Webb

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways has hired investment bank Reynolds Partners to find a buyer for its loss-making upmarket airline OpenSkies, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.

BA has asked Reynolds to carry out a strategic review of OpenSkies, the person said. Its preferred option would be to sell a majority stake in the carrier and it would like to reach an agreement in the next two months or so, the person said.

Informal contact has already been made with possible buyers, who will receive "teaser" documents shortly, the person added.

Reynolds appears well placed to advise BA on a possible sale: earlier this year the boutique hired Tim Hammond, a one-time head of investments and joint ventures at BA, to head its new transport section.

Earlier, the Daily Telegraph said BA was seeking to sell a stake in the carrier, which flies from Paris and Amsterdam to New York, and said estimates of its value range from 30 million pounds to 70 million.

A BA spokeswoman said: "We are reviewing all aspects of our business in the current economic environment. OpenSkies is a small part of our business and its losses are not significant compared to losses in other parts of the company."

Reynolds Partners declined to comment.

Separately on Friday BA unveiled plans to raise about 600 million pounds through convertible bonds and bank facilities as it reported a first-quarter operating loss of 100 million.

(Reporting by Quentin Webb; Editing by David Cowell and David Holmes)