# BMI sell off



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

press association release.........

German operator Lufthansa is selling loss-making BMI for 172 and a half million pounds

The owner of British Airways has said it had reached a binding agreement to buy troubled airline BMI for £172.5 million in a move that will boost its stranglehold at Heathrow airport.

_International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns Spanish carrier Iberia, will acquire up to 56 additional taking off and landing slots at Britain's biggest airport once it acquires loss-making BMI from German operator Lufthansa.

Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, warned BMI job losses were on the horizon as the new owner will restructure the business after the deal is completed, which IAG hopes will go through in the first three months of next year, subject to regulatory approval.

Elsewhere, Lufthansa has the option to sell its business units BMI regional and low-fare carrier BMI baby before completion - and the price will be reduced if Lufthansa does not opt to sell the latter.

The deal will see IAG own more than half of the slots at Heathrow - 53% - once completed, which compares with Lufthansa's 66% hold at Frankfurt airport and Air France KLM's 59% grip at Paris's Charles De Gaulle airport_


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