Status: 08/16/2021 11:21 a.m.
More than a year ago, the federal government joined Lufthansa as a major shareholder as part of a rescue operation. Now Berlin is selling part of the stake – and is still making a profit.
The worst crisis in aviation history has not yet been completely overcome. But the airlines are gradually recovering from the slump in the passenger business, and bookings are picking up again – also at Lufthansa. The federal government sees this as a good time to gradually withdraw from the partially nationalized airline.
On Monday, the federal government announced that it would sell shares in Lufthansa. The Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF), which was set up to rescue companies during the Corona crisis, wants to reduce its participation by a maximum of a quarter to 15 percent in the coming weeks.
Share package worth significantly more
In the summer of 2020, the federal government took a 20 percent stake in Lufthansa. That cost him 300 million euros at the time. The share package is now worth a billion euros. That means: Berlin is even making profits with its partial exit from the crane airline.
In addition to the 300 million euros for the entry as a major shareholder, billions also flowed as a silent contribution. What will become of it is still open. Lufthansa wants to raise at least three billion euros through a capital increase in summer or early autumn in order to repay the silent participation. With such a participation, capital flows into the company without acquiring company shares.
Lufthansa would prefer to get rid of the major state shareholder before the general election and be able to stand on its own two feet again. At the national aviation conference in June, CEO Carsten Spohr declared that the airline, which was one of the first companies to be rescued from the Corona crisis, also wanted to be one of the first when it came to repayments – “hopefully before the general election”.
Four billion euros in aid called up
“If companies aim to free themselves from the need for state support, then we will make that possible,” said Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently about Lufthansa’s plans. “Because our support has been initiated so that the companies survive the crisis and then stand on their own two feet again without us having to help out with our money.”
In total, Lufthansa received nine billion euros in state aid in Germany and in the home countries of its subsidiaries – three billion euros as a loan from the state development bank KfW and six billion euros from the WSF. Of these six billion euros, 5.7 billion euros were granted as a silent participation. So far, the airline has so far claimed four billion, according to CEO Spohr. “We prefer to finance ourselves on the capital market rather than from taxpayers,” emphasized Spohr at the general meeting in May.