Lufthansa offer to Austrian Airlines shareholders increased

The Takeover Commission for Austrian Airlines has now set the price that will be offered by Lufthansa to Austrian Airlines shareholders at 4.49 euros per share, which is a slight increase from the price that was earlier indicated, it was reported on Monday by Lufthansa’s law firm.

In a deal involving two steps, Lufthansa has agreed to buy the 42 per cent stake in Austrian Airlines owned by OeIAG, the Austrian state holding company, and indicated that it would assume full control of the airline for as much as 377 million euros, when the European Commission (EC) has approved the tie-up of the two carriers.

Earlier, Lufthansa had said that it anticipated offering 4.44 euros per share to shareholders in Austrian Airlines for the shares OeIAG does not own. The German airline is now saying that the Takeover Commission has included more data in its current calculation that it had earlier.

In trading, shares in Austrian Airlines have risen by 34 per cent since Lufthansa announced its indicative price on 3 December. The current bid is still 26 per cent higher than the closing price on Monday of 3.56 euros.

Officials at Lufthansa have said that the carrier will likely launch the public tender for the shares in Austrian during the last week of February. The bid is conditional on Lufthansa reaching a 75 per cent stake in the Austrian carrier.

www.lufthansa.com