Lufthansa acquiring Brussels Airlines

[blackhawk]

According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Lufthansa is aiming to buy b.air.

De Duitse luchtvaartmaatschappij Lufthansa heeft interesse in de Belgische luchtvaartmaatschappij Brussels Airlines. De Belgen staan helemaal bovenaan in de lijst met overnamekandidaten.

(belga) - Dat meldt de Duitse krant Handelsblatt dinsdag. De krant beroept zich op insiders.

Een week geleden verklaarde de Lufthansa-directie dat de maatschappij bij marktconsolidering in de VS en Europa een actieve rol wil spelen

Copyright © De Tijd

[Air Key West]

Is there any recent news on LH buying SN since LH announced in the German newspaper Handelsblatt on 28 April 2008 that they were interested in SN ?
For those who read German :
http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen ... me;1423571

[Buzz]

De Belgen staan helemaal bovenaan in de lijst met overnamekandidaten.
Copyright © De Tijd

I very very much doubt that, since they have a deal with the owner of BMI to take his 50,1%, and SAS is actively selling their 20%... That'll be higher on their list than small BruAIr.

[Air Key West]

When LH indicated its interest in b.air in April this year, they already knew they would probably by the 50 % shares of BMI held by the chairman Michael Bishop.
Of course, now part of OS is also up for sale and LH is interested in buying them, but they are not alone.
The advantage b.air has over the other airlines is that it is smaller and LH could probably acquire the totality of the airline, not just take a participation in it.
If the price is fair (= if b.air's Board is not too greedy), I think LH will still be interested.

[BrightCedars]

Also, in comparison to OS and SK, and to some extend BD (which I believe is a different ball game as the objective is the LHR market), SN is a fairly young airline with modern business practices and very little bad habits, a bit like LX in its time. OS and SK are not the worst airlines out there, but there are certainly few airlines that are as lean as SN. Good potential for profit and good potential if you have the wallet!

[lumumba]

Lufthansa négocie le rachat de Brussels Airlines


Mis en ligne le 28/08/2008 à 15:57



Lufthansa a annoncé jeudi être en négociation en vue du "possible rachat de SN Airholding SA, propriétaire de Brussels Airlines". La compagnie aérienne allemande, n°2 du secteur en Europe, achèterait 45 pc de SN Airholding pour environ 65 millions d'euros, à l'occasion d'une augmentation de capital, avec l'option de racheter les 65 pc restants au bout de deux ans. (NLE)

© BELGA
BRUXELLES 28/08 (BELGA)

[shockcooling]

...45 pc de SN Airholding pour environ 65 millions d'euros, à l'occasion d'une augmentation de capital, avec l'option de racheter les 65 pc restants au bout de deux ans...

I am sure they mean 55% instead of 65%!

[Boeing767copilot]

Lufthansa and SN Airholding SA/NV in negotiations over strategic equity investment

Deutsche Lufthansa AG and SN Airholding SA/NV, the parent company of Brussels Airlines, are in constructive negotiations over an equity investment in SN Airholding. The intention of the negotiations is a collaboration with Brussels Airlines as self-dependently operating airline within the Lufthansa affiliated group. Brussels Airlines has not been involved in an alliance to date. It operates services from the Brussels hub within Europe and also specialises in flights to Africa.
Lufthansa plans to initially acquire 45 per cent of SN Airholding at a proposed price of EUR 65m in the course of a capital increase. After two years and beyond Lufthansa would be authorised to exercise an acquisition option for the remaining 55 per cent. The price of this option is linked to the prospective performance of Brussels Airlines.
Over the next few weeks, Lufthansa intends to examine SN Airholding and conclude negotiations as to the contractual details. The planned equity investment in SN Airholding is yet to be approved by the Supervisory Board of Lufthansa, the Board and shareholders of SN Airholding and the antitrust clearance.
Both companies will inform about the progress of the negotiations in due time and have agreed on maintaining silence until then.

[BrightCedars]

I wonder if it is LH or SN dictating these terms. It seems to be smart move by LH, take a stake and inject funds - albeit non controlling but certainly close enough to that - and have an option on the rest for later depending on performance and liquidity at that time. The problem would be that this places SN again between 2 chairs, not really allowing to fully maximize all synergies as LH might walk out after two years.

Here's still hoping for BA to enter the game. I'm not seeing SN blossom as much under LH rule. It will just become a continental Star Alliance station with lots of Star Alliance codeshare and very little Intercontinental traffic on own or on partner metal.

[tolipanebas]

It is now official and the press release is up on the Lufthansa website

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html/presse/pressemeldungen/index.html?c=nachrichten/app/show/en/2008/08/852/HOM&s=0

I suppose the alliance will thus be STAR and the transatlantic code shares with AA replaced by flights from UA/US... Also expect serious network reshuffles: new codeshares with SK, LH, OS, BD etc are in the pipeline, whereas BA and AY may be dumped...

[tolipanebas]

I wonder if it is LH or SN dictating these terms.

As can be derived from the 45% share price of €65M, LH definitely managed to push through its valuation of SN which is at around €145M, whereas SN Airholding wanted to recover its full €200M -actually €185M- investment, although the construction with optioning the remaining 55% leaves room for a higher valuation of the remaining shares if SN does really well over the next 2 years.

I think that as always, a compromise deal had to be made to sweaten the pill for all parties so everybody could walk away a happier man.
LH because they pay a low price and even if they have to pay proportionally more for the second share package later, they still will pay less than what SN asked for and SN because they still have the outlook on getting almost their asking price: let's assume that LH will end up paying €165M or about, which is not that far off the €185M that was invested by them, especially not given the fact the SN Airholding's shareholders have all made good use of a fiscal ruling tailor-made for them, thanks to which they could all deduct their investment in SN from their taxes.

[Air Key West]

65 million euros is peanuts for LH, but it is also peanuts in terms of capital increase. Will it be enough for b.air to make the necessary future investments (in the fleet, for instance) ?

[BrightCedars]

Some of the synergies I can think of, assuming SN joins Star Alliance as a senior member:

A3 Aegean Airways on ATH and potentially SKG
AP Air One on FCO, MXP & SKG
BD on England depending on their fate
JK Spanair on Spain depending on their fate
JP Adria Airways on Slovenia (already code-share, no change)
LH Lufthansa on German routes and beyond
LO LOT on Poland
LX Swiss on Switzerland and beyond
MS Egyptair on Egypt and beyond
OS Austrian Airlines on Austria depending on their fate
OU Croatia Airlines on Croatia (already code-share, no change)
SK Scandinavian on the Nordic countries
TK Turkish Airlines on Turkey and beyond
UA United Airlines on the USA
US US Airways on the USA

The relationship with AA and BA will be revisited, and here comes the question of the LHR slots. SN might end up with no presence on the London market if they stop cooperating with BA and don't start (or eventually stop) cooperating with BD, should they be sold to a non Star Alliance party. The cooperation with 9W might be at risk AI becoming a member of Star Alliance, but that's a long shot. Some new long-haul connections can be envisaged at BRU (AC on YUL/YYZ, TG on BKK, NH on NRT) and I'm also sure that some more service to Africa would be established with the help of more wide-bodies. Lots of possible developments. It will be interesting to see if LH transfers business from LH and LX to SN on the African continent. Strangely I'm not seeing SN partnering with SA on the agenda, despite the latter's membership of Star Alliance.

[BrightCedars]

65 million euros is peanuts for LH, but it is also peanuts in terms of capital increase. Will it be enough for b.air to make the necessary future investments (in the fleet, for instance) ?

I think the plan is to put some synergies in place and see where they can go from there. 65M€ seems indeed peanuts for 45% of SN Airholding. Hence my feeling that SN will not have a major role to play.

[L-1011]

With all this talk of LH lurking around participations in OS, new-AZ and SN, with BA taking over IB, the AF/KL alliance which had to compete with BA and LH for consolidation in Europe is loosing ground (air ) very fast! Maybe that's why you start to hear AF/KL running back to Italy trying to guarantee a stake in new-AZ
One has to wonder how Skyteam will reinforce its european presence if LH owns or participates heavily in the major players in neigbouring countries/airports (LX, OS, SN, new-AZ & AirOne....)

TriStar

[lumumba]

Don't forget that Continental will also become a Star member.
Pat

[euroflyer]

Oh no, this will be the end to any somewhat decent priced tickets between Germany and Brussels ... Expect 600 Euro as minimum for a fully flexible eco return from FRA, MUC or TXL in the future just as it is today for all other nearly *Alliance-only-routes from Germany (Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, ...). Might be a chance for Air Berlin or EasyJet to grab some slots between Germany and Brussels as part of a deal with the competition authorities to keep a minimum of competition?
I assume for BruAir and its employees it will be very good news, in the long term you all will be part of a rather safe and well-doing big company with lots of career opportunities, a decent pay level and quite good industrial relations. But for customers I am not so sure if this is good news.

[Air Key West]

True, but unavoidable. Consolidation / mergers are on their way and it will mean that three major players will dominate the market in Europe (LH, BA/IB, AF-KL). They will buy other airlines or take financial participations that will lead them to dominate markets, which is bad for competition and consumers because less competition means higher prices and poorer service. But it's unavoidable.
I'm tempted to say that LH's financial participation in b.air will at least probably be a good thing for b.air employees (probably).
My guess is that LH might develop b.air as the Star Alliance carrier specialised in Africa (maybe with all or most LH/LX Africa flights "transferred" to b.air), but for the rest of the world it is likely that b.air will remain a minor actor.

[Atlantis]

I think that Lufthansa is the best for B.Air's future. If we see the results of LX then we can hope the same for Brussels Airlines.

I think that both companies can help each other. B. Air will have money for their near fleet renewal and Lufthansa will enter Africa via Brussels Airlines and Brussels Airport. Lufthansa can compete against AF/KLM with his new partner B.Air.

But I think that will be all. But with a Star Alliance we could attract new long haul players. Question is what Jet Airways will do?

[Airbus330lover]

Question :
Can OW let it without reaction....
Not for B.air but well for a contaniental base in the centre of europe (MAD is excentred!)
IMO the best solution remain BA and OW.
LH has enough hubs within 900 km of BRU.