The economic stabilization fund, a public body that owned these shares, “sold its last shares to … international investors,” it said Tuesday night.
“The participation of the (stabilization fund) ends and the company is once again in private hands,” greeted Jutta Dönges, director of the fund.
The German government saved Lufthansa from bankruptcy in June 2020 when it was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Berlin granted the group a massive aid plan of 9,000 million euros, including a public input in the capital of up to 20%.
But this participation has always been considered temporary by the public authorities, and should cease as soon as the situation improves.
profitable operation
This operation also comes after several reductions, which had already reduced the presence of the public to 14.09% in 2021 and 9.92% last July.
The sale of these last shares represented 1,070 million euros for the State, for whom the operation was generally profitable, with a “positive balance of 760 million euros”.
“The government aid plan has successfully helped the company through this crisis,” the stabilization fund said in its statement.
The group, which owns Austrian, Swiss, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines, is doing better, after experiencing massive losses during the pandemic.
The company posted a net profit in the second quarter of this year for the first time in more than two years, boosted in particular by its cargo business.
After shedding more than 30,000 jobs since 2020, Lufthansa also plans to hire 5,000 people this year and an equivalent number in 2023.
Source: BFM TV
