German carrier aims to be Europe's biggest airline
Lufthansa launched its formal bid for Austrian Airlines with an offer of up to €377m in a performance related deal.
It will pay the Austrian government €366,000 for its 42% stake in the troubled carrier and then a further €162m which will depend on Austrian's future performance and on the Lufthansa share price.
Lufthansa would have to pay €215m to buy up the remaining 58% of shares in Austrian at a price of around €4.44 a share.
Lufthansa has been in talks with Austrian since the summer and emerged last month as the sole bidder.
Air France KLM and the Russian domestic carrier S7 had also shown an interest but the Austrian government chose Lufthansa.
Lufthansa said in a statement: "The consequences of the financial markets crisis and its effects on the real economy have a major impact on the aviation industry.
"Structural changes increase the likelihood of Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines sharing a brighter future."
It added that its bid of €4.44 per share was conditional on it acquiring at least 75% of the Austrian airline and the European Commission approving €500m in aid to restructure Austrian.
Lufthansa acquired SWISS in 2005, and bought a 19% in the American carrier JetBlue in 2007and a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines last September.
It is also due to buy a controlling stake in the UK carrier BMI in the new year when its takes over the 50% plus one share holding of chairman Sir Michael Bishop.
Lufthansa already has a 30% stake in the carrier and is also expected to buy the remaining 20% now owned by SAS.
www.lufthansa.com www.aua.com