Cathay Pacific Airways (00293) plans to enter into a repurchase agreement with Qatar Airways to repurchase approximately 643 million shares off-market.

CATHAY PAC AIR (00293) announced that on November 5, 2025, Qatar Airways signed a commitment contract with the company as the beneficiary. According to and subject to the conditions of the commitment contract, Qatar Airways has irrevocably committed to the company to sign a repurchase contract, which relates to the company repurchasing 643 million shares owned by Qatar Airways, accounting for approximately 9.57% of the issued shares. The repurchase price is HK$10.8374 per share, a discount of approximately 3.9% compared to the closing price of HK$11.28 per share reported on the last trading day on the Stock Exchange. As of the date of this announcement, the public shareholding of the company accounts for approximately 28.14% of the issued shares, including the repurchased shares. After the completion of the share repurchase, assuming no other changes in the company's equity, the public shareholding of the company will decrease to approximately 20.53% of the issued shares (excluding treasury shares, if any), which is lower than the minimum percentage of 25% stipulated in Rule 8.08 of the Listing Rules. The company has applied to the Stock Exchange, and the Stock Exchange has granted a public shareholding exemption, but the details and reasons for the exemption must be disclosed in the form of an announcement. Subsequently, up to the date of this announcement, the company issued a total of 278 million shares due to the exercise of conversion rights attached to bonds, resulting in the increase in the company's public shareholding from approximately 25.04% on the date of the public shareholding exemption to approximately 28.14% on the date of this announcement. When deciding to propose the share repurchase and establish the terms of the share repurchase, the Board of Directors considered the following factors: - The cost of the share repurchase is determined based on the average price of the five trading days up to and including November 3, 2025, minus a 3% discount. Given the circumstances, this presents an opportunity for the company to increase its earnings per share. - The total cost of the share repurchase is HK$6.969 billion. After considering the group's resources, the total cost of the share repurchase, the group's future funding needs, market conditions, operational requirements of the group, and the overall aviation industry situation, the group will maintain sufficient cash to support its operations after completing the share repurchase. - Through the share repurchase, Qatar Airways can exit in an orderly manner and reduce any significant market fluctuations that may be caused by selling Qatar Airways' shares on the market.