Is the Lufthansa bailout back on? If the talks the German government had with one of the carriers biggest shareholder today prove successful, then the deal with go ahead.
Government officials were working hard on Monday to persuade them to accept the new terms of a €9 billion euro / $10 billion bailout the airline needs to survive the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was confident the deal would be approved after meeting with Heinz Thiele, who owns 15.5% of the group. Scholz said the proposal to be put to shareholders had been “carefully weighed” in negotiations with Lufthansa and the EU, adding: “This will be taken into account, I think, by the shareholders.”
Thiele had previously objected to some of the bailout terms, including that a 20% stake and board seats would be passed to the government upon acceptance of the deal.
The airlines CEO Carsten Spohr had told employees at the weekend that shareholders representing less than 38% of shares had registered to vote, handing Thiele a virtual veto on the bailout, which needs two-thirds of votes to pass. persuasions
Additional reporting by Christian Kraemer, Michelle Martin and Joern Polz;
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