Mexico´s Posadas Group to buy Mexicana Airlines

Posadas Group, Mexico´s largest hotel firm, agreed to buy government-owned Mexicana Airlines for $165.5 million. Posadas Group beat out a bid from Grupo Xtra, the holding company for a large pharmaceutical distributor.

The purchase by Posadas Group is to be completed by December 16 and the new owner will assume all of Mexicana´s debt and lease obligations, bringing the total transaction to nearly $1.5 billion, according to Adolfo Crespo y Vivo, Mexicana´s vice president of public relations.

Mr. Crespo said that Posadas Group was drawn to Mexicana because of the airline´s relatively young fleet, its corporate culture and the potential of the low-cost division Click Mexicana.

The government took control of both Mexicana and chief rival Aeromexico as part of a bank bailout in the mid-1990s, creating Cintra to manage both airlines.

In Mexico, Posadas Group claims to operate 20 percent of the nation´s tourist-class hotel inventory. The company´s brands include Fiesta Americana, Aqua, Fiesta Inn, Caesar Park and Caesar Business.