Japan’s biggest airline ANA Holding Inc (ANA) has completed the purchase of an 8.77 percent stake in Vietnam Airlines, becoming a strategic shareholder of the national flag carrier.

General Directors of Vietnam Airlines and ANA Holdings exchanging a document on strategic cooperation in Tokyo on May 28

Under the transaction, reached on July 1, ANA paid more than 2.4 trillion VND (109 million USD) for the stake in the Vietnamese carrier.

Vietnam Airlines is scheduled to convene an irregular congress of stakeholders by the end of September in order to gain an approval of new members to the board of directors and amend the corporation’s regulations.

On May 28, General Directors of Vietnam Airlines and ANA Holdings exchanged a document on strategic cooperation in Tokyo.

A Vietnam Airlines representative affirmed that the event is significant to the corporation’s long-term development, helping it renovate its fleets, expand markets and improve its operational efficiency.

The corporation will continue to seek new investors as part of its restructuring efforts, the representative said.

ANA Holdings Group is a parent company of All Nippon Airways and low-cost Vanilla Air. All Nippon Airways is Japan’s largest carrier in terms of revenue and number of passengers. Its fleet of 240 airplanes transports 47 million passengers each year.

Vietnam Airlines is set to transport 20.1 million passengers this year, an increase of 10.6 percent against 2015. It is also expected to post revenues of 77.8 trillion VND (3.55 billion USD) and pre-tax profits of more than 2.3 trillion VND (105 million USD).

Source: VNA