News: Lufthansa takeover of Bmi approved
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Flights > News > # 2165 (18/05/2009)
The European Commission has approved Lufthansa’s takeover of Bmi.
The German national airline has been given the green light to buy and 80% stake, giving it access to Bmi’s highly lucrative Heathrow slots.
The European Commission said a takeover of Bmi should not affect the competition between the other Europe airlines. After looking over the operation, the commission felt that the transaction would not cause a significant impact on the European Economic Area or on any of its substantial parts.
Just last year, the founder of Bmi, Sir Michael Bishop, exercised an option that required Lufthansa to purchase the controlling share of the company. At that time, Lufthansa agreed to increase its shareholdings to 80%. This was to cost Lufthansa about £300 million. The remaining 20% would be held by Scandinavian airline SAS.
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