DUBAI - Bahrain's Mumtalakat Holding Co., which owns Gulf Air, may sell a stake in the national carrier and is eyeing other investments globally, the head of the Gulf state's investment arm said."It's a possibility," Mumtalakat Chief Executive Talal Al Zain told Zawya Dow Jones on the sidelines of a Gulf Air press conference Monday.
"We're an investment company so we don't need to own the majority stake in any one company," said Al Zain, who is also the chairman of the country's flagship carrier.
Al Zain said Mumtalakat would sell "a minimum of a 25% stake" in the airline, but doesn't have any immediate plans to do so despite interest in the carrier.
"We've already had some interest, but I'm not entertaining because we're not going to listen until we see a change" in the airline, Al Zain said.
Mumtalakat is the holding vehicle for a number of companies based in Bahrain. Its assets include Alba, the aluminum producer, Gulf Air and the Bahrain International Circuit.
Al Zain said Monday that the investment firm's assets are currently worth "close to $9 billion" and that it is "always on the look out for investments".
"We're looking at more liquid investments though," he said.
Mumtalakat also holds a 30% stake in McLaren Group.
In July, Mumtalakat said it incurred a net loss of 69.3 million Bahraini dinars ($183.8 million) in 2008 compared with a profit of BHD170 million a year earlier.
At the time, the company said the loss was mainly down to impairment charges of BHD370 million mainly on its holdings in Gulf International Bank and Gulf Investment Corp.