DUBAI: Kuwait’s low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways has begun the bidding process for acquiring a 35 percent stake in Kuwait Airways, it said on Sunday.

Jazeera has submitted a letter of intent to buy the stake, it said in a statement, adding this was expected to be the first privatization by the government that exceeds the $3 billion mark.

It didn’t specify if this amount reflected the valuation of the 35 percent stake or the entire company.

The carrier’s chairman told Reuters in October that it was preparing to make a bid for a 35 percent stake — the maximum allowed by a private investor under Kuwait’s privatization law.

Logistics firm Agility has also been linked with bidding for the stake.