Airlines
Qatar Completes Purchase of Equity Stake in Meridiana
Doha-based carrier now owns 49-percent of the ailing Italian airline

Qatar Airways has closed on its 49-percent acquisition of AQA Holding, the new parent company of Italy’s Meridiana. Previous sole shareholder Alisarda has kept 51 percent of the company. The deal follows Qatar’s failed attempt to take a stake in American Airlines, whose protestations over the plans eventually convinced Qatar management to drop the effort. Doha-based Qatar began negotiations over the Meridiana acquisition more than a year ago.