Lufthansa spreads her wings over AUA

Acquisition is tied & Trade
Lufthansa will pay the symbolic price of € 366 000
Guarantee brand, network and workstations

The acquisition of the Austrian airline Austrian Airlines (AUA), through the Lufthansa is now housed in Vienna in the bag. The supervisory board of the largest shareholder, the state holding company OIAG meets "In the afternoon, the contract is signed. Until he is legally binding should indeed take several months - the EU Commission, the planned partial debt relief for the AUA by the Republic of Austria that is still approve.

Buyers, sellers and management will face from 16.30 clock in the center of the ÖIAG the public. The essential details of the deal are already known. Lufthansa will pay the symbolic price of € 366 000 (1 cent per share) for the State's share in the AUA (41.6 percent), but promises in the event of a favorable economic development of the AUA arrears of up to 162 million euros. The Republic of Austria takes over € 500 million in AUA's debt - which rivals such as Air France-KLM, and "FlyNiki" seen as a gross distortion of competition.



The AUA-free float will be offered € 4.44 per share - the so-called Closing is expected to take as long but half a year. In addition to the approval of the 500-million grant, the EU will also consider even more, may be taking whether or in what regions AUA and Lufthansa have a dominant position. For Lufthansa, the "go" in Brussels prerequisite for the realization of the deal.

Lufthansa had to provide guarantees
Lufthansa had to turn inter alia , Assure that the mark and the Austrian decision-making center in Austria as well as maintain an adequate network and keep the best jobs are protected. The council makes the acquisition inter alia because of the partially overlapping markets worried. Staff representatives and trade union have called on Thursday again concrete assurances from the buyer.

With today's signature of the AUA privatization process in record time in just four months will be completed. After the bounce of the Saudi-Austrian investor Mohammed Al Jaber in the spring and deteriorating quarter results, the government had until 12 August the contract for the AUA sale granted.

Lufthansa, the AUA is as much as the Star Alliance, is about ten times as large as the AUA. Around the world, about 100,000 people work for the airline with the crane logo. Last year, Lufthansa reported sell of 22.4 billion euros a profit of nearly 1.7 billion euros. It transported almost 63 million passengers. The AUA 2007 was 2.5 billion euros with 8,000 employees in sales and transported 10.8 million people.