Qatar Airways may be looking at buying Brazil’s Gol; parties deny report

Brazilian low-cost airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes jumped in Monday trading after a report that it was in preliminary talks with Qatar Airways for a possible takeover of the struggling Latin American airline. Veja magazine said Qatar executives met with Gol officials last week to discuss a possible takeover. Because Brazil restricts foreign ownership of domestic airlines, Qatar was seeking to structure the takeover in a form similar to that used in the takeover of Tam by Chile’s Lan to form Latam Airlines Group. Qatar Airways and Gol signed a mileage-sharing agreement in June of this year that allow passengers of both companies to accumulate frequent-flier mileage.

ArabianBusiness: Gol denied the report of takeover talks with Qatar Airways.