Lufthansa Takeover of bmi Approved

www.lufthansa.com

The European Commission has just approved the Lufthansa takeover of bmi. This gives Lufthansa the right to purchase about 80% of the stakes in the struggling British airlines company bmi and have access to their very lucrative Heathrow slots.

A takeover of bmi should not affect the competition between the other Europe airlines, said the European Commission. After looking over the operation, the commission felt that the transaction would not cause a significant impact on the European Economic Area or on any of its substantial parts.

Just last year, the founder of bmi, Sir Michael Bishop, exercised an option that required Lufthansa to purchase the controlling share of the company. At that time, Lufthansa agreed to increase its shareholdings to 80%. This was to cost Lufthansa about £300 million. The remaining 20% would be held by Scandinavian airline SAS.

Right now Lufthansa is said to concerned over a possible breach of a UK Civil Aviation Authority rule. Which forces the airline to have enough cash to operate for three months. However, Sir Michael denied that bmi was at any risk of losing its licensing from the breach of the UK Civil Aviation Authority regulations.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa said that the European Commission’s approval of the takeover has met, not one, but not all of the conditions needed for the takeover to take place.

Of course, the European Commission is also investigating a Lufthansa take over of Austria Airlines after concerns were raised about the price of the restructuring plan that is having to be paid by the Austrian government. Thus, much still lays unsure right now for Lufthansa.

For more information visit: www.lufthansa.com