Qatar Airlines buys 10pc stake in LATAM

SANTIAGO: Qatar Airways bought a 10-percent stake Wednesday in LATAM, the largest airline in Latin America, the Chilean-Brazilian company said.

The investment, first announced last July, amounts to 60.8 million shares at a price of $10 each, LATAM said in a statement.

The airline -- the product of a 2012 merger between Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM -- said Qatar's arrival as a stakeholder "represents a unique opportunity to develop a long-term relationship and explore new opportunities to connect with Asia and the Middle East."

The cash from oil- and gas-rich Qatar's flagship airline comes just in time for struggling LATAM, which lost $219 million in 2015 as Brazil, its main market, struggled through a deep recession.