Lufthansa buys the remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines

[Airbus A330]

still ongoing

Thanks, OO-ITR
Let's hope SN will be able to maintain its BRU hub & longhaul network... :angel:

[OO-ITR]

still ongoing

Thanks, OO-ITR
Let's hope SN will be able to maintain its BRU hub & longhaul network... :angel:

I don't see why they would not be able to maintain that...

[sn26567]

The discussions between the four Belgian negotiators and the representatives of Lufthansa seem to have come to an end. The purchase compromise has been presented to the Belgian shareholders, which have until 13 December to approve it. None of them has refused until now.

Then, on 15 December, the Board of SN Airholding will meet to also approve the negotiated final conditions in order to conclude the purchase of the remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines by Lufthansa. End of the game!

[koja78]

But what about the contents......

[Bralo20]

But what about the contents......

If I may make a guess:

Probably not much of a change in the foreseeable future. Maybe some low yielding routes switched to EW but I guess most will stay the same (for now).

And for the (far) future, there's a time to come and there's a time to go so I wouldn't surprised if Carsten Spohr will be out of LH in the next couple of years and then everything is on the table again. But even in the far future I think SN is here to stay. (even with the EW fetish that seems to go around)

Now the big question is how they are going to renew the (long haul) fleet. Going for brand new planes (which I honestly doubt due to the lack of slot availability) or obtaining younger second hand planes (maybe even as an interim solution towards new planes).

[DeltaWiskey]

There are slots available for A330neo's from mid 2018, and plenty in 2019.

[brabel]

According to L'Echo and translated by HLN in Dutch, SN keeps the brussels airlines name (for at least 2 years). Also the management will stay the same it says.
Next week, the final decision should be there.

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/942/Economie/a ... ansa.dhtml

[Acid-drop]

just like BBL stayed for a few years before becoming ING

[nordikcam]

According to L'Echo and translated by HLN in Dutch, SN keeps the brussels airlines name (for at least 2 years). Also the management will stay the same it says.
Next week, the final decision should be there.

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/942/Economie/a ... ansa.dhtml

In french with La Libre : http://www.lalibre.be/economie/libre-en ... 48787c4901

[Boavida]

"For at least 2 years"... This doesn't sound good.

[nordikcam]

It could be Brussels wings or Brussels swings...

[Passenger]

Or it could be Brussels Airlines by Lufthansa.

[lumumba]

Or Eurowings becomes Brussels Airlines that's maybe a good solution....

[Magiktrix]

You should launch a vote and the winnner get a free sticker

[Yuqu12]

Time enough to get Carsten Spohr out and search a president for LH who sees the potential of SN

[Flyuli]

it seems that we have two years to say "goodbye Brussels Airlines" ..

[sn26567]

it seems that we have two years to say "goodbye Brussels Airlines" ..

That's indeed one of the first bits of information that leaked from the results of the final discussions between Lufthansa and the SN shareholders. Brussels Airlines will keep its name for at least two years.

Other than that:
- Davignon will remain Chairman and Gustin will remain CEO
- The sales price of the 55% will not increase: it is and remains contractually 2.6 million euros, a bargain!
- As mentioned previously in this thread, the agreement of the shareholders is expected on 15 December.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Read it like this : Eurowings has two years to establish their brand, if it's a success ... byebye SN , if not byebye Carsten
But SN's future and name isn't in their own hands anymore...
But... for what outcome must we belgians hope, exit SN or bad news for mother SN

CXB

[Inquirer]

- The sales price of the 55% will not increase: it is and remains contractually 2.6 million euros, a bargain!

just a small note:
what the shareholders get paid (in cash) may be something different from what they get out of it in full, which may be something completely different again from what Lufthansa has to pay up to gain full control: we should remember there's a big outstanding loan between the different shareholders involved here too, as well as other debts with third parties which may or may not have been involved.
Unless one knows the detailed accounting behind all of that, it's fairly difficult to judge the fairness of the remaining cash part of the bigger deal.
To illustrate: LH could very well be forgoing on (part of) those €100M in short term loans and/or taking on (part of) the outstanding long term debts of the current holding company with third parties (too) in order to improve their balance sheet and/or allow brussels to get much cheaper financing terms for it based on the better ratings of the new owner and/or the lower debt ratio of the company itself, all of which combined would have value for Brussels Airlines itself and raise the financing cost of the transaction by several tens or even hundreds of millions for the new owner, albeit not paid out in cash on the accounts of the shareholders.
I doubt we will get full transparency on this in the formal announcement: we may have to wait till the annual accounts of all entities are made available to see exactly what was the real deal in full, financially: the cash payment is only the final balancing of it all.
I remember the very same happened at Austrian too, btw: they got bought for far less in cash even.

[Passenger]

just a small note:
what the shareholders get paid (in cash) may be something different from what they get out of it in full, which may be something completely different again from what Lufthansa has to pay up to gain full control: we should remember there's a big outstanding loan between the different shareholders involved here too, as well as other debts with third parties which may or may not have been involved.
Unless you know the detailed accounting behind all of that, it's fairly difficult to judge the fairness of the remaining cash part of the bigger deal.
To illustrate: LH could very well be forgoing on (part of) those €100M in short term loans and/or taking on (part of) the outstanding long term debts of the current holding company with third parties (too) in order to improve their balance sheet and/or allow them to get much cheaper financing for it based on the better ratings of the new owner and/or the lower debt ratio of the company itself, all of which combined would have value for Brussels Airlines itself and raise the financing cost of the transaction by several tens or even hundreds of millions for the new owner, albeit not paid out in cash on the accounts of the shareholders.
I doubt we will get full transparency on this in the formal announcement: we may have to wait till the annual accounts of all entities are made available to see exactly what was the real deal in full, financially: the cash payment is only the final balancing of it all.
I remember the very same happened at Austrian too, btw: they got bought for far less in cash even.

Indeed. Let's not forget that Lufthansa, as the new shareholder, also takes over the financial responsability for the consolidated losses from the past (overgedragen verlies/ perte à reporter): 63,2m for SN Airholding (a bit less for Brussels Airlines: 58,6m).

And by signing for the shares, Lufthansa also takes over the risk that Brussels Airlines has to refund the state support in the pending court case on the Belgian KB/AR from 2014. If the Belgian Raad van State/Conseil d'Etat rules in favour of Ryanair and British Airways, the consolidated loss for Brussels Airlines increases with another 50,4m (16,8m for 2013, 2014 and 2015).