Talks eventually involved six companies in Hong Kong and China, each named after a star in a bid to keep the negotiations secret. The deal that was ultimately agreed saw Cathay buying the more than 82% of Dragonair that it did not already own for HK$8.2 billion ($1.1 billion) from China National Aviation, CITIC Pacific, Swire Pacific and a handful of small minority shareholders. At the same time Air China and subsidiary CNAC acquired 17.5% of Cathay from CITIC and Swire for HK$5.4 billion, while Cathay increased its stake in Air China to nearly 17.5% for HK$4.1 billion. It was a groundbreaking agreement and one which Sir Rod Eddington, one of the Airline Strategy Awards judges, described as "quite remarkable" due to its complexity. Sir Rod knows just how important the deal is to Cathay, as he was its managing director until late 1996 when he left to join Ansett Holdings and later British Airways.