SINGAPORE Airlines Ltd and shareholders of Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise are evaluating four bids for the sale of Asia's largest plane lessor, the carrier's Chief Executive Officer Chew Choon Seng said yesterday.

Shareholders of the leasing company, which is 35.5 percent owned by SIA, earlier this year hired Citigroup Inc to explore "strategic" options, including a possible sale to investors. Four out of six bidders made it to the final round of selections, Chew said in an interview.

"We now have four remaining bids that have made the cut," said Chew, who was attending an aviation conference in Osaka, Japan. "In a deal of this nature, each bidder will have certain conditions that they will want to attach to the purchase and therefore we have to consider everything."

SALE, which leases planes to 34 airlines including Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd, China's Shandong Airlines Co and Kenya Airways Ltd, plans to quadruple its fleet as travel demand surges and more low-fare carriers start operations. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, at least 18 low-fare carriers have started in the last four years, Bloomberg News said.

Stake sale

The sale of the carrier's stake may boost its earnings by S$500 million (US$321 million), according to an estimate by JPMorgan Chase & Co. SALE, which has posted profits every year since it started in 1993, hasn't paid any dividend since it was set up.

Bank of China Ltd and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise are among at least three companies that may bid about US$1 billion for SALE, five people with knowledge of the sale told Bloomberg News earlier. Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp is also among the bidders. Chew declined to identify the bidders or give a timeframe on when the deal would be completed.

German Bank WestLB AG also owns 35.5 percent in the lessor, while Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore's state-owned investment agency, holds 14.5 percent. GIC Special Investments, the private-equity unit of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, has a 14.5 percent holding.