Cathay Pacific aborts bid for China Eastern

Cathay Pacific Airways announced on Monday it will no longer bid for a stake in China Eastern Airlines, allowing Singapore Airlines' current bid of US$930 million to proceed, reported the South China Morning Post. A spokesman for Cathay, whose shares were suspended from trading Friday due to an announcement of a "proposed transaction," said that it was going to bid for China Eastern with its strategic partner Air China, but that the deal "would not proceed." The Hong Kong-based carrier did not elaborate on why. In a separate stock exchange statement, Air China said nothing would happen in relation to the deal in the next three months.