Malaysia Airlines shares to be halted

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plans to suspend its shares from trading on Friday, two sources familiar with the situation said, likely paving the way for state investor Khazanah Nasional to take the airline private as a first step in a major restructuring.

Trading in the company, whose official name is Malaysian Airline System, will be halted due to "a pending corporate announcement," according to the sources, who declined to elaborate.

The same sources told Reuters in early July that Khazanah, which owns 69% of MAS, plans to take the airline private as a slump in business since the disappearance of Flight MH370 on March 8.

Loss-making Malaysia Airlines' problems deepened on July 17 when its Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. That incident accelerated the government's plans to restructure the airline, the sources said.

A de-listing would pave the way for Khazanah, which is chaired by Prime Minister Najib Razak, to revive the ailing carrier, possibly by selling off its profitable engineering, airport services or budget airline units, trimming its payroll and installing a new management team.