Österreichische Industrieholding AG (ÖIAG) said that it has chosen Lufthansa as the sole bidder for the remaining 41.6 percent stake in Austrian Airlines.
The Associated Press is reporting that ÖIAG will negotiate with Lufthansa exclusively from now on and that Air France-KLM and S7 are no longer in the bidding process.
No details or sales price were revealed, but Lufthansa said last month that it will go ahead only if Austria would assume €500 million ($637.5 million) of Austrian Airline’s debt. Lufthansa said it had no comment on the talks and conditions of the deal and Associated Press reporters could not reach Austrian Airlines for comment.
Austrian Airlines had a debt of €900 million ($1.127 billion) when the Austrian government decided to sell off its share. It posted a net loss of €16.4 million ($20.54 million) for the three months ending September 30. In the third quarter of 2007, it posted a profit of €20.6 million ($25.8 million).
ÖIAG head, Peter Michaelis, expects the deal to be completed within a month. The agency is still evaluating Lufthansa’s condition that the Austrian state would take over a large part of Austrian Airlines’ debt.
