German government completes sale of Lufthansa shares

18-09-22

The German government has sold its remaining stake in Lufthansa to investors, meaning the airline group is now "fully in private hands".

Lufthansa received a €9bn bailout from the German government's Economic Stabilisation Fund (ESF) in May 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic left it on the brink. This funding agreement included the government receiving a 20% stake in Lufthansa.

Recently, the German government has announced that it has sold its remaining 6.2% stake in the group, marking a "successful" completion of the stabilisation process.

In this sense, the return of the group to private ownership will release Lufthansa from the commitments and restrictions made to the European Commission as part of the bailout agreement. It should also be noted that Lufthansa has already repaid all the loans it received from the German government, even ahead of schedule.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr thanked the executive and taxpayers for supporting the airline group during "the most severe financial crisis in our company's history". "The stabilisation of Lufthansa was successful and is paying off financially for the German government and thus for taxpayers," Spohr said.

In a separate announcement, Lufthansa Group has signed an agreement with energy group OMV for the supply of more than 800,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from 2023 to 2030.