JP Morgan briefly takes significant stake in Brazil's Azul

JP Morgan Chase Bank briefly became a significant minority shareholder in Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras on September 15, only to then reduce it below the 5% threshold three days later. The airline said in a stock market filing that "certain entities controlled by JP Morgan" acquired nearly 8.8m preferred shares on September 15, which nearly doubled the bank's holdings from 3.92% to 6.54%. However, the same entities sold almost 7.4m preferred shares on September 18, which reduced JP Morgan's stake in Azul to 4.35%. While the value of the transactions was not disclosed, Azul was trading at US$8.15 per share on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15 (giving the buy transaction a nominal value of US$71.6m) and at USD=$8.58 on September 18 (US$63.3m nominally for the sell transaction). Azul's largest identified shareholders are United Airlines Holdings (7.76% total economic share), former shareholders of merged carrier TRIP Linhas Aéreas (5.05%), and founder David Neeleman (4.49%).<br/>