China's Juneyao Group plans to sell a 7% in its short-haul carrier to an undisclosed third party in the hope of involving a long-term partner.

Based on the premise that the sale does not affect the parent's holding status, the Shanghai-based group will transfer 125.8 million shares, Juneyao Airlines said in a statement yesterday. The cost of the deal will be based on market prices.

Juneyao Airlines planned to offer up to 169 million shares to the industrial investment unit of China Eastern Airlines to raise as much as RMB 3.15 billion (USD 454.3 million), it said on November 12. After the investment, the unit would have held about 8.6% of the carrier.

It is first time that Juneyao Group and Shanghai Junyao Aviation Investment have agreed to sell shares since the airline went public in May 2015. They hold 1.134 billion and 48.4 million shares, respectively, accounting for about 63% and 2.7% of the airline's general capital.

The buyer must acquire the shares in a one-time cash payment and publicly undertake to retain the stock for at least 36 months, yesterday's statement said.