Wednesday, December 02, 2020
The corona crisis is taking a toll on Lufthansa. The airline could now fit well into the concept that the EU allows the sale of the on-board catering division one year after the conclusion of the contract. Lufthansa boss Spohr is silent about the proceeds, but he reveals: "We are getting leaner."
Lufthansa can finally sell the European business of its catering subsidiary LSG to the global market leader Gategroup. Gategroup met all the requirements of the EU Commission and received the green light for the takeover, announced the Lufthansa group in the evening. This means that the purchase contract concluded about a year ago can now be carried out. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction. The Lufthansa Group continues to strive to sell the remaining international part of the LSG Group "as soon as the general conditions permit".
According to the information, the Lufthansa Group and the airline caterer Gategroup had already signed a purchase agreement in December 2019 for LSG's European business with 7,500 employees. According to Lufthansa, this makes up around a third of the LSG Group's total business. In addition to the European catering businesses, the purchase agreement also includes the lounge and train business as well as the Evertaste brand and its European operations, the Spiriant equipment business and the "Ringeltaube" brand retail stores. Gategroup is a long-term partner of the group airlines for catering and services at the Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich locations, it said. Lufthansa will retain a minority stake in the factories in Frankfurt and Munich, which provide on-board services for Lufthansa flights there.
Editions from Brussels
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said: "With the sale of the LSG European business to Gategroup, we are setting another milestone in the restructuring of the Lufthansa Group. We are focusing more on our core airline business, we are becoming leaner, more efficient and reducing the complexity within the Group. "
According to information from Brussels in April, one of the requirements of the EU Commission was that Gategroup had to undertake to sell parts of the business where activities overlap. This should ensure competition between on-board catering at some airports. The Lufthansa Group, which was under great pressure in the current pandemic, planned to sell the profitable catering division LSG with around 35,000 employees worldwide even before the Corona crisis.
.