Last Tuesday, the Supervisory Board of ÖIAG gave the green light to the sale to Lufthansa of ÖIAG’s 41.56 per cent share in Austrian Airlines. The contract was signed following a meeting of the Supervisory Board of ÖIAG.

The acceptance of the Lufthansa bid is the result of a bidding process launched on 13 August in accordance with EU privatisation guidelines. The process was structured and carried out by ÖIAG and investment bank Merrill Lynch.

Lufthansa will acquire all ÖIAG’s shares in Austrian Airlines at a price of e366,268.75. ÖIAG will also receive a debtor warrant providing for a profit share based on the economic development of Austrian Airlines and the share price of Lufthansa compared to other airlines after three years. The maximum revenue from the debtor warrant is e162 million, and corresponds to the price of the public takeover offer.

At the same time, Lufthansa will receive a payment of e500 million to compensate for the negative shareholder value of Austrian Airlines. As Lufthansa announced on 3 December, the company expects to submit a takeover offer to all shareholders in Austrian Airlines in the spring of 2009 at the average share price for the past six months of e4.44 per share.

This takeover offer depends on the fulfilment of defined conditions, the probability of which cannot be estimated at this point. The aim is to take over a majority shareholding in Austrian Airlines.